Gallant on Haredi draft bill: Likud has ‘never represented such an anti-Zionist position’

7 December 2025, 11:24 am

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Former defense minister Yoav Gallant arrives for a hearing at an internal Likud tribunal in Tel Aviv to present his defense against a move to expel him from the party, September 29, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH90)

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant says his Likud party “has never represented such an anti-Zionist position” as over the advancement of a bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions.

“The gap between those who are representing the voters, between Knesset members and ministers and voters, has never been so wide,” he tells Army Radio.

He says members of the party who have children serving in the army tell him that the law currently being advanced is “unacceptable to them.”

Gallant reiterates that his opposition to the proposed bill was the main reason for his sacking by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.