‘A disgrace and insult to IDF soldiers’: Lawmakers respond angrily to chief rabbi’s threat

Impassioned reactions are pouring in after the Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said ultra-Orthodox citizens would leave the country if they are forced to be drafted into the army.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, chair of the centrist Yesh Atid party, says the comment “is a disgrace and insult to IDF soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the defense of the country.”

“Rabbi Yosef is a state employee, with a salary from the state — he cannot threaten the state,” he writes on X.

Avigdor Liberman, chair of Yisrael Beytenu, writes: “Without duties, there are no rights.”

“A shame that Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and the ultra-Orthodox hustlers continue to harm the security of Israel and act against halacha,” he says.

The coalition’s far-right Religious Zionism party says in a statement: “Drafting to the military: A good deed! We are grateful for the privilege of serving the people of Israel, learning Torah, and helping Israel in a time of need.”

“After two thousand years of exile, we will never leave our country. A community that is willing to pay with its life for the Land of Israel will not give it up under any conditions,” it says.

The ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party says that “army service is a huge privilege for a Jew who defends himself in his country and a great deed.”