Gantz on Haredi draft exemption bill: ‘Cowardly government unworthy of our fighters’

By Ariela Karmel

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

14 July 2025, 3:14 pm

1 Edit

Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“This is a cowardly government that is unworthy of our fighters,” says National Unity leader Benny Gantz before a faction meeting with the press, regarding the government’s ongoing attempts to pass a Haredi draft exemption bill. “The government is destroying us from the inside.

“Netanyahu can – and will, I hope – achieve normalization with countries in the region, but he cannot achieve the most important normalization, that within [Israeli society,” he adds.

On Attorney General Galia Baharav-Miara’s refusal to attend the controversial hearing today regarding her potential dismissal, Gantz says, “I am confident that what she’s doing is lawful.”