Edelstein said willing to drop property tax sanctions in Haredi conscription bill if other measures kept

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein is willing to remove sanctions that would see ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers lose their property tax discounts as long as other measures can be kept in the conscription bill being debated by the panel, Channel 12 reports.

Other sanctions which would be kept in the bill include the loss of public transportation discounts, the removal of tax benefits for working women married to dodgers, exclusion from the housing lottery, and the cancellation of daycare and academic subsidies. The bill would also prevent draft dodgers up to the age of 29 from receiving driver’s licenses or traveling abroad and would open them up to the threat of arrest.

Edelstein has pledged that any law coming out of his Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee would levy sanctions on draft dodgers, leading ultra-Orthodox parties to threaten to dissolve the Knesset this week.

An official in the Degel HaTorah faction of the United Torah Judaism party tells Channel 12 news: “As of now, everything is up in the air. We want clear agreements.”