Source: Forward
http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.10.17/news7.split.html
On October 17, 2003 Forward reported that "a sweeping plan to restructure Israel's religious infrastructure took a big step forward last week, delighting liberals but presenting Prime Minister Sharon with his first major coalition crisis. The Cabinet voted 18 to 3 to dissolve the Religious Affairs Ministry, a major stronghold of rabbinic and Orthodox political patronage, and reassign its departments among other ministries and local authorities. The plan was a key campaign goal of the anti-clerical Shinui party and was accepted in principle during coalition talks last winter by the National Religious Party, a junior partner in Sharon's coalition. However, the NRP is balking over a provision that would transfer the nation's rabbinical courts, currently controlled by the Chief Rabbinate, to the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry, which is headed by Shinui leader Yosef 'Tommy' Lapid. Lapid is widely viewed among Orthodox Israelis as a foe of religion."