The central committee of the National Religious Party decided by majority vote but against strong opposition this evening to accept a compromise on the Who is a Jew issue and join Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s coalition government. The committee approved the proposed formula by a 65 percent margin after veteran party leaders Yosef Burg and Yitzhak Rafael expressed concern over recent secularist trends in the government and argued that the NRP could better achieve its aims inside the Cabinet than out.
The NRP’s militant Young Guard and the centrist faction led by former Religious Affairs Minister Zerach Warhaftig remained adamant against the compromise. Their motion to defer a decision for further consultation was defeated.
But the Independent Liberal Party posed a new quandary for Premier Rabin on his return from the U.S. tonight by voting, at a meeting in Tel Aviv over the weekend, to reject the compromise. The ILP rejected it by a two-thirds majority raising the possibility of their withdrawal from Rabin’s narrow coalition government. The strongly secular Citizens Rights Party of Shulamit Aloni has also served notice that it would withdraw from the government if the NRP joined. Should both of his coalition partners defect, Rabin would be faced with the loss of seven Knesset votes in exchange for 10 of the NRP, a net gain of only three.
The compromise formula calls for the suspension for one year of the registration of immigrant converts during which period a ministerial committee will try to draft an acceptable legislative solution to the Who is a Jew question.
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