With a little more than a month left before Israel’s national elections, Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu met with religious political party leaders in an effort to woo their support.
The two contenders for the premiership appeared before a conference of the fervently Orthodox Agudat Yisrael Party this week, promising more money for religious education and housing, and pleading to preserve the religious status quo in Israel.
Peres told the conference that he would allocate some $8 million for religious seminaries and development of Kiryat Sefer, a new religious community being built in Israel.
Peres also pledged to prevent passage of the Basic Laws pending in the Knesset that could advance the cause of religious pluralism.
Netanyahu also promised to preserve the religious status quo and to build new housing for the fervently Orthodox community.
He also said budgets for the religious educational system would be equal to those allocated for secular schools.
Agudah officials later said that no decision had been made at the conference to support either candidate.
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