A new government crisis developed suddenly last night when Rabbi Judah L. Maimon, Orthodox member of the Cabinet, announced his resignation from the government.
Rabbi Maimon, who is Minister of Religion, submitted his resignation after a stormy Cabinet discussion on the situation in the immigrant camps. An urgent meeting of leaders of the Religious Bloc will be held in Tel Aviv today to discuss the consequences of the resignation. Representatives of the religious groups in the executive of the Jewish Agency have also been invited to attend the meeting.
Circles close to the Religious Bloc told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “The situation is serious in view of the fact that the resignation of Rabbi Maimon from the Cabinet is final and also because of the possible resignation of the other two Orthodox members of the Cabinet.” The other two Religious Cabinet members are Moshe Shapira, Minister of Interior, and I.M. Levin, Minister of Welfare.
In an exclusive statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Rabbi Maimon declared that his reasons for resigning were strictly religions, not economic or political, and that he had no wish to precipitate a Cabinet crisis. “For various causes over which I have no control and which are adversely affecting my health as a devout Jew whose ancestors witnessed the Torah being given to the Jews on Mount Sinai, I cannot continue to work, and must resign from the government,” Rabbi Maimon said.
“I want to emphasize that only religious–neither economic nor political nor other–motives compelled me to resign. Also, I do not want to create any government crisis. Less than anything do I want to place difficulties in the path of the state, but I cannot continue,” he concluded.
(Dr. Pinkhos Churgin, president of the Mizrachi Organization of America, which is sponsoring the forthcoming visit of Rabbi Maimon to this country, today said that the resigned Israeli Minister is scheduled to arrive in New York on January 23.)
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