Word: agudat
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Political analysts were divided over just what had happened. There was some speculation among Knesset members that the defectors might have come from two tiny parties in the coalition, the ultrareligious Agudat Yisrael and Tami, an ethnic party of Sephardic Jews. Another explanation might be that some members simply preferred a man of Herzog's stature. Said Labor Leader Shimon Peres: "We were wise enough to present the best candidate...
...religious militants staged a three-hour demonstration, protesting what they termed the desecration of graves at the government-approved dig. Leading the protest were members of Netorei Karta (Guardians of the City), a fundamentalist sect that refuses to accept the legitimacy of the Israeli state, and representatives of Agudat Israel (Union of Israel), an ultra-Orthodox religious party that joined Prime Minister Menachem Begin's new government a month...
With that, the dispute was instantly transformed into a red-hot political issue-potentially the first threat to the coalition that Begin stitched together last month out of his conservative Likud bloc and three small religious parties. Since one of them is Agudat Israel, its support is crucial if the Begin coalition is to maintain its razor-thin, one-vote majority in the 120-member Knesset...
...there was little cause for jest. The religious parties quickly showed their clout when vacationing Knesset members were summoned for a special session to discuss the legal issues raised by the disputed project. Members of Agudat Israel and some Deputies from the more moderate National Religious Party have argued that the archaeologists, who have a government license to excavate for relics of King David's 11th century B.C. biblical city, are actually disturbing the graves of a 700-year-old cemetery, thus violating religious...
...still another concession to the Agudat Israel, the coalition promised to amend the country's famous Law of Return, which specifies that any Jew is automatically eligible for Israeli citizenship. If the Agudat Israel has its way, the law would apply only to Jews who have been converted according to Orthodox law. Although few people would be affected, the change amounts to an attack on the validity of Reform and Conservative Judaism. As such, it would inevitably antagonize many Jews in the U.S. and elsewhere. Said Rabbi David Leiber, president of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles...