The chairman of Agudat Israel, MK Yaakov Litzman, announced today (Wednesday) that he is resigning from his position as a Knesset member, thus ending 23 years of political career as a representative of Gur Hasidism in the Mishkan. The move took place following the plea agreement signed by Litzman in which he will retire from political life and no indictment will be filed against him and thus no disgrace will be imposed on him. A pacemaker was recently implanted in his heart after he fainted and did not feel well.
The seventy-four-year-old Litzman takes the course even before the dissolution of the twenty-fourth Knesset. While there were those who thought he would wait for the end of the summer conference in about two months, he had already decided to end the political chapter in his life and retire. He will be replaced by the next on the list, former MK Yaakov Tessler, a representative of the Viznich Chassidut.
The announcement was made yesterday by Mayor Moshe Leon after the two were at an event to inaugurate a new library for the Hassidic public in Jerusalem. Leon tweeted “I received the message with regret. Rabbi Litzman was an excellent public representative for his emissaries and took care of Jerusalem in all the positions in which he served successfully. I wish him great success along the way.”
Last January, former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit decided to file an indictment against Litzman, for offenses of fraud and breach of trust but without bribery. The second investigation against him will be closed, as part of a mitigating plea deal signed by the parties. According to the indictment, Litzman, who was then serving as deputy health minister, acted unlawfully to influence the opinion of an expert witness, a psychiatrist working in his office, as part of the extradition process of Malka Leifer to Australia seeking to prosecute for sexual offenses.
This is the disintegration of the serious suspicions that the police demanded to be prosecuted. Litzman will confess and be convicted on his behalf and be sentenced to a suspended sentence and a fine of NIS 2,800.
Behind Litzman is a series of positions he held throughout his years as chairman of Torah Judaism – a rotating tenure with MK Moshe Gafni, who have a relationship that has known ups and downs. For many long years he was a member of the Knesset of Israel and took part in government and municipal struggles, as an emissary of Gur Hasidism. Previously, he served as Minister of Construction and Housing, Minister of Health, Deputy Minister of Health and Chairman of the Finance Committee. It is identified with the law for labeling products on health warning stickers, in the State Comptroller’s report in 2018 he was accused of acting in favor of tobacco companies and fighting against the introduction of chametz into hospitals.
Litzman used to resign as part of his struggles in the government of which he was a member. For the third time in 3 years this happened following the decision to impose a full closure on the Tishrei holidays due to the outbreak of the corona plague. On the eve of the formation of the unity government. In April 2020, Litzman resigned as Minister of Health and moved to the Ministry of Housing, when he received an order from the Rebbe of Gur to do so due to the housing crisis in the ultra-Orthodox sector. Puppy storks. Even then, he did not resign from the coalition and continued to vote with the government in the Knesset plenum.