Haredi party to reach agreements on division of parliamentary roles - Haredi Community ‏

UTJ factions Agudat Yisrael, Degel Hatorah, meet to resolve disagreements regaridng who will fill the Knesset roles offered to it.

Members of the Knesset's United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party met Wednesday morning to decide which member of the party would become the Deputy Knesset Speaker and which members would take the other roles offered to the party during the coalition negotiations.

There are disagreements within UTJ's Agudat Yisrael faction, as well as between it and the party's Degel Hatorah faction.

During the previous coalition, MK Yisrael Eichler was in charge of the Special Committee for Public Petitions. However, MK Yaakov Tesler, who is ahead of Eichler on UTJ's list, insisted on taking the position for himself. Eichler, meanwhile, claims that there was an understanding that Tesler would be first on the list, but that Eichler himself would receive the position.

On Wednesday morning, however, it was announced that Tesler would be chairman of the Special Committee for Public Petitions.

There are also disagreements between Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah regarding who will serve as Deputy Knesset Speaker.

While Degel Hatorah claims that they have priority with regards to positions due to an agreement signed between Housing Minister Yakov Litzman and MK Moshe Gafni prior to the elections. For its part, Agudat Yisrael claims that chairing the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee is an important role and Degel Hatorah should therefore make do with it and the two other roles it received in the Transportation Ministry and Finance Committee.