The National Religious Party Executive has refrained from acting on a demand from one of its 12 Knesset members, Rabbi Haim Druckman, that another NRP Knesseter be censured for attending a Peace Now movement rally and criticizing the Gush Emunim. Interior Minister Yosef Burg, who persuaded his fellow members of the NRP Executive not to act on the demand to censure MK David Glass, is scheduled to meet with Druckman tomorrow in on effort to persuade him not to leave the NRP.
The dispute arose last week during an NRP Executive meeting on the proposed plan for autonomy for the Palestinian Arabs, when Druckman, a strong supporter of Gush Emunim, urged the NRP to censure Glass for denouncing the Gush at the Peace Now rally which urged the government to offer more concessions if needed to ensure that the Camp David ministerial meeting would be successful. Druckman denounced Glass for attacking rabbis and yeshivot students. “Who gave you permission to speak against them?” he asked Glass, “Who made you qualified to attack rabbis?”
Glass replied that the Peace Now movement is closer to the political position of the government, of which the NRP is a part, than Gush Emunim which has called for the toppling of the government. He said he would accept a ruling by the Executive in which no NRP MK would be allowed to appear before cheer forums But he declared, he would not accept a situation in which NRP MKs could participate in Gush Emunim rallies while other MKs, with different views, could not appear its support of groups which shore their views.
While some Executive members supported Druckman, most opposed any decision which would prevent freedom of expression with the party even if they did not approve of Glass attending the Peace Now rally. The decision not to act against. Glass was seen as an indication that the Gush Emunim no longer enjoys the support of the majority of the NRP. A year ago, Glass might have been censured. But the Gush’s attacks on the government have apparently lost it much support with in the NRP.
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