From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 4, 2024
Lapid urges immediate draft of Haredim to IDF, slams daycare subsidies law
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"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says he has written to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, demanding that he give immediate orders to recruit to the IDF all eligible members of the ultra-Orthodox community, and arguing that there is no reason to refrain from conscripting tens of thousands of “young men who can make a tremendous contribution to the war effort.”
Addressing reporters in the Knesset ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting, Lapid echoes the argument he made to Gallant, stating that if the government had begun wide-scale mobilization following this summer’s High Court ruling, “the ultra-Orthodox youth would have already finished their basic training [and] would have already taken the terrible load off the reservists.”
“We have no expectations from the government. Yesterday we received more proof that this government has no respect for the fighters, the wounded and the dead: the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the evasion financing law,” Lapid continued.
Yesterday, the high-level committee backed a bill that would guarantee the continuation of taxpayer-funded childcare subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox community despite a High Court of Justice ruling that such financial support is not legal in cases where the father should be serving in the Israel Defense Forces but is not.
“If this law passes, no Haredi will enlist. Why would they enlist if the government pays them thousands of shekels, at our expense, not to enlist?” Lapid asks.
“Whoever votes in favor of this evasion law will be voting against IDF fighters. They will be voting against the hundreds of IDF casualties. They will be voting against the thousands of IDF wounded. They will be voting against victory in the war and against solidarity between the people of Israel. This law should be thwarted, and this law can be thwarted.”
