Following the exposure on the website and the media coverage created by the Gush Etzion Council's criminal lawsuit against 35 parent couples, a mediation meeting was held today (Monday) between the parents' committee and the council.
The parents' committee stated that "There is no doubt that the article and the pressure did good, a significant desire was felt on the part of the council to promote the recognition and to finally be in regular dialogue to solve the story that is now being threatened.
There is no way to get an unequivocal picture, but it is clear that there is now a channel for joint work - the right thing is to finally submit the request for recognition with the council. She pledged that the request would go through and not be disqualified because of the number of students, the feeling is that now there will be a real desire to make an effort for it."
"The direction is to regulate the Talmud Torah in the coming month"
A spokesman for the parents' council adds "We will have to work quickly and hope that things will be clarified quickly (despite the holidays, etc.), praying that the 'mouth and the heart are equal' now. The meaning is that now the pressure is positive pressure - there was a positive meeting, and the direction is to settle the Talmud Torah already in the next month. It is significant to echo the positive channel - because as soon as it is announced that the council is regulating in the next month - it obligates them"
Regarding the continuation of the trial, the council claims that if they arrive at the request for regularization in the Ministry of Education's system, both on its part and on the part of the judge - there will be sufficient reason to postpone or cancel the entire hearing.
As published in JFeed/Srugim, the council criminally prosecuted 35 pairs of parents for allegedly not sending their children to school, even though they knew the children were studying Talmud Torah and at the same time enrolled the children in the council's other institutions against the will of the parents. The journalist Zvi Yehezkeli also received an indictment and said "I am blessed that I was caught for Torah words".
