From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 17, 2024
Lapid meets with Yesh Atid MKs to discuss blocking ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Ahead of a scheduled debate in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid convenes representatives of his Yesh Atid party who sit on the committee to come up with strategies to block its passage.
“I believe that there are decent people in the committee from all factions of the house whose conscience and values will not allow them to pass the law as it is,” Lapid says at the meeting.
If approved, the bill would lower the age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription.
It is being promoted by the government at the same time as another bill mandating that IDF reservists will continue to be called up until a higher age.
