The secretariat of the Tami Party decided at a four-hour meeting here today to recommend to its central committee that the party leave the Cabinet and the government coalition.
Tami leader Aharon Uzan, who is also Labor and Social Affairs Minister, said there was only a “very small chance” that the Central Committee would overturn the secretariat’s decision. He expressed anger over what he termed the Finance Ministry’s insensitivity toward the poor, who are the main supporters of Tami which represents Israelis of North African origin. “If the Cabinet were to reconsider the economic measures it has taken, Tami might reconsider its departure,” Uzan said. He was referring to a series of new taxes on consumer goods and the levying of a monthly education tax for school children. (See August 23 Bulletin.)
Uzan noted that theoretically the government could continue to rule without Tami’s three Knesset votes, as it would still have a majority of the 120-member parliament. But among those 61 MKs there are at least two or three known to waver in their support for the Likud coalition, he added.
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