Lapid calls inflation of ultra-Orthodox draft figures ‘grave and troubling’

Blue and White MK Yair Lapid, who has long championed increasing ultra-Orthodox military enlistment, calls it “grave and troubling” that the IDF long issued inflated numbers on conscription rates in the community.

Lapid says the matter needs to be clarified “immediately” and welcomes the decision by fellow Blue and White MK Gabi Ashkenazi, who heads the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, to summon representatives from the IDF and Defense Ministry for a meeting next week.

“The equality of the burden is an open wound in Israel. The country needs to bring this issue to an end by legislating the enlistment bill exactly as it was written by the defense establishment,” Lapid tweets.

Disagreements over that bill between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospective coalition partners were central to thwarting the formation of a coalition following elections in April and setting off months of political deadlock.