Government’s treatment of yeshiva students reminiscent of Romans, senior Haredi MK claims

The government’s “current war against the Torah world is reminiscent of the Romans,” who “fought against the Jewish people to prevent them from learning Torah,” senior ultra-Orthodox politician Moshe Gafni declares at a conference of the Yeshiva Students’ Committee.

“We will not allow this to happen, and we will fight with all our strength,” the Degel HaTorah faction chairman pledges, predicting that the “Torah world will not only continue and remain strong — it will grow even more, and it will be the one leading the Jewish people.”

Arguing that “the Jewish people cannot exist without Torah students,” Gafni insists that many of those currently advocating for the conscription of Haredim to the army aren’t really interested in IDF manpower issues and “just want us to leave the coalition” — a move Gafni’s United Torah Judaism has already made.

“It’s not that we love this partnership — it’s a partnership in which we don’t see our partners fighting for us,” he adds, claiming that the “traditional public… is with us.”

Degel HaTorah, along with Hasidic Agudat Yisrael, make up the United Torah Judaism party. UTJ and fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas have been pushing hard for the passage of a bill enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service.

UTJ quit the coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by then-Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, which it argued had violated the terms of a compromise reached in June. They were quickly followed by Shas, while quitting the government, remained part of the coalition.