Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir campaigned vigorously Tuesday to persuade the Labor Party to join Likud in forming a national unity government.
Most political observers here attribute the Likud leader’s initiative to the vehemence of Diaspora Jewry’s campaign against the amendment to the Law of Return demanded by the ultra-Orthodox parties.
Shamir is said to have been taken aback by the depth of feeling expressed by American Jewish lay and rabbinical leaders, including several prominent representatives of modern Orthodoxy in the United States.
Most Diaspora Jews are affiliated with the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism. They see the proposed amendment as a delegitimization by Israel of those religious movements.
Shamir also was surprised by the relatively weak response from ultra-Orthodox circles overseas so far.
On the one hand, he needs the religious parties if talks with Labor fall through. On the other, he does not want to be remembered by history as the Israeli leader who triggered a schism between the Jewish state and large segments of world Jewry.
Shamir made an impassioned plea Tuesday for an all-party national coalition government. “Even though we can form a government without the other major party,” he said, alluding to Labor.
The Likud leader, addressing the annual Editors Committee Luncheon for the Prime Minister in Tel Aviv, was referring to his party’s ability to put together a narrow governing majority in the Knesset with the ultra-Orthodox and extreme right-wing parties.
Shamir said a broad coalition would be preferable, but failing that, he would still honor the promises he made to the religious parties. These include speedy passage of the controversial “Who Is a Jew” amendment.
Shamir said at the same time that he would seek a compromise to ensure the unity of the Jewish people.
Likud’s relations with the two largest religious parties, Shas and the Agudat Yisrael, have visibly soured in the past few days.
LABOR TO CONVENE WEDNESDAY
Sensing a possible double cross, the Agudah Council of Sages was due to meet late Tuesday to reconsider the party’s support of Likud. The Shas leader, Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, reportedly had a short, angry exchange with Shamir on Tuesday.
The smallest of the religious parties, Degel Ha Torah, has already broken talks with Likud and indicated its preference for a broad-based government.
The Labor Party now seems to have the means to resolve the crisis one way or another. Its leadership bureau, a 120-member policymaking body, was to convene Wednesday afternoon to discuss the terms Shamir offered to Labor Party leader Shimon Peres at their meeting Monday.
Stiff resistance is expected from the powerful no-negotiations bloc in the Labor camp, led by the party’s secretary-general, Uzi Baram.
But the consensus is that if Peres and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin recommend joining a government with Likud, the leadership bureau will go along.
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