Deri accuses Gantz of blocking compromise on ultra-Orthodox draft

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and youth raise placards during a protest against Israeli army conscription outside an army recruitment office in Jerusalem on April 11, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and youth raise placards during a protest against Israeli army conscription outside an army recruitment office in Jerusalem on April 11, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri accuses war cabinet minister Benny Gantz of “blocking any possibility of agreements” on the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the IDF.

“He submits a law whose meaning is the elimination of the Torah world, and he knows that there is no chance in the world that this law will pass, because his goal is not to reach a solution and agreements,” Deri tells the Shas-affiliated HaDerech newspaper.

Turning to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Deri says that he is “very sorry” that the Likud minister “tied himself to Gantz” and conditioned his support for any legislation on the issue on Gantz’s approval because “it is not possible to reach agreements with him in any way.”

“It is a shame that this is how things are at this time, in the midst of a war,” he says. “You are asking me if there is a solution? Currently we don’t have one.”

Gantz has pushed back against a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to regulate the enlistment of yeshiva students, saying that it did not go far enough, and threatened to bolt the coalition if it was approved. He has instead pushed his own outline for the conscription of Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army.

Addressing a conference organized by the Israel Hayom daily newspaper on Tuesday, Gantz stated that talks are ongoing and rejected the idea of a “political compromise” that would protect yeshiva students’ exemptions as harming Israeli security.

“We need a comprehensive and broad [military] service plan,” he declared.

Last week, Shas distanced itself from one of its members, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, after he stated that there was no longer a “moral” justification to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who were not studying in a yeshiva from army service.

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