Liberman: Failure to pass enlistment bill will be long-term tragedy

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman calls on both coalition and opposition parties to support his ministry’s bill formalizing exemptions to military service for ultra-Orthodox students, saying a failure to pass the law will end in “crying for generations.”

“I think this is the most balanced, nonpartisan law and I very much hope that we will bring it next week to debate at the special Knesset committee and pass it by the end of the summer session in its second and third readings,” Liberman says at his Yisrael Beytenu party’s faction meeting.

“I think there is truly wide consensus for this law from all the factions — both the coalition and the opposition — and not passing it in its current version will simply be a long-term tragedy,” he adds. “I call on everyone to truly leave aside all the disputes and score settling and to unite over the draft the defense establishment formulated.”