Yair Lapid
"The fact that Bibi surrendered to the demands of United Torah Judaism to introduce a law on segregating men and women in public spaces is nothing short of madness," Lapid tweeted.
A draft agreement leaked Monday to public broadcaster Kan stated that "within 90 days the government will amend the law in such a way that it will be permissible to provide public services, public study sessions and public events in which men and women are separated. This separation will not constitute discrimination according to the law."
Lapid took the opportunity to chastise the premier who he explained campaigns so strongly against the threat of Iran yet is acquiescing to religious parties' demands that would be characteristic of a theocratic state akin to the Islamic Republic.
"The man who has been speaking out against Iran for 20 years now wants to import it," Lapid charged.
Netanyahu's Likud party denied that the deal was finalized, claiming that the agreement was entertained in order to placate the demands of Shas, United Torah Judaism, and the Union of Right Wing parties, which have been pushing their religious agenda more than ever.
On Monday, right-wing Israeli parliamentarian Bezalel Smotrich campaigned to "restore the Torah justice system" in Israel as he made his case to be appointed justice minister after Netanyahu fired Ayelet Shaked from the post.
Netanyahu tried to push back against the uproar caused by Smotrich's remarks, responding on his Twitter account that "The State of Israel will not be a halacha [Jewish religious law] state."
Netanyahu's former defense minister Avigdor Liberman also jumped on the opportunity to reiterate his principled position on separation of state and religion, which arguably forced a new round of elections after Yisrael Beiteinu rejected a coalition agreement with Likud for failing to curb military draft exemptions for Israel's religious communities as provided in a law that previously passed a first reading.
"The cancellation of the prohibition on gender segregation is another step in transforming the State of Israel into a halacha (religious law) state," Yisrael Beiteinu said, adding that it further demonstrated how Netanyahu had "yielded to all the Haredi demands in the coalition negotiations."
Comment: Even the possibility that Netanyahu had to "entertain" the idea, in order to placate the extremists into accepting a coalition deal with him, shows just how much power Netanyahu has lost in recent years. But regardless of whether or not the deal was finalized, it does demonstrate the kind of extremist insanity that characterizes the religious segment of Israel's Jewish population. For example: