Shamir’s Coalition Gains an Ultra-Orthodox Party

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir expanded his ruling coalition Friday by signing on an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party with promises of stricter religious laws that include outlawing the sale of pork.

The agreement with the Agudat Israel party gives greater stability to Shamir’s 5-month-old, right-wing government. But it also threatens to reopen old wounds between ultra-religious Jews who want biblical law enforced by the state and the secular majority, which fears religious coercion.

Shamir’s promise of sweeping religious legislation came amid demands by another government minister for tighter laws restricting the number of non-Jews coming to Israel with a huge wave of Soviet immigrants.

The demand by Immigrant Absorption Minister Yitzhak Peretz, also an ultra-Orthodox Jew, has raised a political storm, with critics calling it racist, divisive and a threat to immigration.

Peretz, who is in the Soviet Union, said he has discovered that one-third of the would-be immigrants are not Jewish. Israel has estimated that up to a million Soviets will arrive before the end of 1992.

In a telephone call to Shamir on Thursday, Peretz demanded that the government change the Law of Return, which allows Jews and certain of their non-Jewish family members to emigrate to Israel, said his spokeswoman Ida Ben-Shitrit.

She said Peretz wants to bar non-Jewish grandchildren from immigrating because he feels it isn’t enough if a grandparent is the last link to Judaism. Shamir’s spokesman, Avi Pazner, said the premier will consider the issue when Peretz returns from Moscow next week. Peretz said his discovery that so many non-Jews plan to emigrate to Israel “hurts me.”