Haredi Draft ’Law’ may Explode Bibi’s Gov’t

By Staff, Agencies

As the rift inside the “Israeli” community continues to float the surface of “Israeli” political institutions, the opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Monday that war cabinet minister Benny Gantz should pull his “National Unity” party out of the government if a contentious Haredi draft “law” is passed this week.

This comes as the entity’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was said to tell ministers in his “Likud” party that without the “law”, his government would collapse.

The “Yesh Atid” chair’s comments came a day after Gantz threatened to bolt the coalition if the controversial “legislation” is approved, calling it a “red line” and “a threat to national cohesion.”

“If the conscription ‘law’ passes on Tuesday, Gantz and [minister Gadi] Eisenkot should leave the government,” Lapid told the Kan public broadcaster.

“[The government is] playing with ‘Israel’s’ security. It’s not just an ideological discussion anymore,” he said. “It’s a security disaster. There are not enough soldiers, the army is stretched to the limit. There are more soldiers in the West Bank than in Gaza at the moment, the actual war is not going on right now.”

Coalition ministers reportedly spoke to people close to Netanyahu to explore the possibility of not supporting the “law” when they received the prime minister’s message.

In addition to political obstacles, the “legislation” faces legal ones too. According to reports Monday, the coalition is holding discussions on the proposed draft “law” after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warned that she would be unable to defend the proposal if it was challenged in court, due to unspecified “significant and essential difficulties.”

Ultra-Orthodox men of military age have been able to avoid the draft for decades by enrolling in “yeshivas for Torah” study and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reach the age of military exemption.

Netanyahu’s proposed outline, to be discussed Tuesday by Knesset members, would see the age of exemption raised to 35.

On Sunday, War Minister Yoav Gallant — who has stated he cannot support any "legislation" passed without broad agreement from all coalition parties, especially Gantz’s — also rejected Netanyahu’s plan, saying that a flexible agreement on the issue was “essential for the existence and success of the army,” and appealed for a compromise to be found.

Since the beginning of the aggression in Gaza, “Israel” has called up a total of 287000 reservists, announced earlier-than-planned draft dates for some 1300 members of pre-army programs, and pushed to significantly increase both conscripts’ and reservists’ periods of service.

According to the “Israeli” army, some 66000 young men from the “Haredi” community received an exemption from military service over the past year, said to be an all-time record.

A “law” that authorizes these exemptions expired in June 2023, and a temporary regulation that extended it is set to expire next week, after which the military will not be authorized to exempt “Haredi” young men from the draft and will need to start enlisting them.

As the deadline nears, the government has been rushing to legislate a new version of the “law”, with the ultra-Orthodox parties demanding continued exemption while other coalition factions, including members of “Likud” and the far-right Religious Zionist party, have been demanding that the “Haredi” community performs military service.