Lapid lashes Haredi position on draft, says leaders only interested in money

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams the government and ultra-Orthodox parties for trying to prevent the conscription of yeshiva students, following Sunday’s High Court of Justice hearing on petitions demanding their immediate conscription.

“The lawyers who represented the yeshivas, the ultra-Orthodox parties, told the court openly, without shame: ‘We will not be drafted, we will not risk our lives, and we are here only for one thing — to make sure that our money is not touched,” Lapid tells the press ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

Lapid lashes out at Doron Taubman, the private counsel hired by the government, who yesterday said that cutting off stipends for yeshiva students who do not enlist would have a severe impact on their families to the point where it was a “matter of life and death for tens of thousands of married yeshiva students.”

Lapid says “628 soldiers have been killed and murdered since October 7th” with more deaths announced every day. “That’s a matter of life and death.”

“They have to enlist because there are not enough soldiers,” Lapid adds.

During his remarks, he reiterates his promise to provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a political safety net if his far-right coalition partners pull out of the government over the latest hostage deal under discussion.

Asked by The Times of Israel if he would be willing to do the same to ensure the passage of legislation mandating an ultra-Orthodox draft, which would likely cause Haredi parties to bolt, Lapid says his offer is only good for the hostage deal.