Bennett vows to bar draft dodgers from security cabinet after Modiin clashes

Following last night’s clashes in Modiin over the attempted arrest of an ultra-Orthodox draft evader, B’Yachad leader Naftali Bennett announces that barring draft dodgers from the high-level security cabinet will be a “fundamental condition” for his party to join the next government.

“We will pass the ‘Deri Law,’ which stipulates that a draft dodger cannot sit in the security cabinet,” Bennett tells the ICT Counterterrorism Conference. “Anyone who evaded IDF service or encourages draft evasion will be barred from serving in the security cabinet.”

The proposal is a reference to ultra-Orthodox Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, a key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Deri served in the IDF for several months, as have multiple members of his extended family, but he has been a leading opponent of efforts to end the sweeping military service exemptions long granted to Haredi men.

“We will no longer accept a ridiculous situation where someone who boasts about not sending his own grandchildren into battle is the very person sending our sons and daughters to fight,” Bennett says.

The announcement comes after ultra-Orthodox rioters attacked Military Police soldiers who were in Modiin to arrest a draft evader. Israel Police said officers were called in to rescue the soldiers and restore order, with the security forces ultimately leaving without the suspect.