From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 27, 2025
Liberman: Likud sends our children to front lines while backing draft evasion
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud after a number of members of the ruling party announced they might participate in an ultra-Orthodox anti-conscription rally in Jerusalem scheduled for Thursday.
“Likud, under Netanyahu’s leadership, sends our children to the front lines with one hand, and with the other hand demonstrates in favor of draft evasion,” Liberman says in a statement. “Likud has turned into a branch of the Haredim and Ben Gvir. Very soon I will put an end to this disgrace and pass a law for mandatory enlistment for everyone.”
At least two members of Likud have indicated that they support the demonstration and are considering taking part.
“It could definitely be a good idea to come, and even if I don’t, my heart is with all those in Israel who want to stop the persecution,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi told Radio Kol Hai this morning.
Likud MK Avichai Boaron sounded a similar note, telling Radio Kol Barama that he was “thinking of joining this rally.”
“There is an alliance between Likud and the ultra-Orthodox public. The Torah is the elixir of our lives, and Torah study is a supreme value,” he said.
In response, fellow Likud MK Dan Illouz tweeted against such acts, saying that the party’s voters were “the backbone of the serving public — those who send their children into battle and carry the security of the state on their shoulders.
“These are the people we were sent to represent in the Knesset. We must not grovel before anyone — not in the face of international pressure, not before a hostile media, not before legal advisers, and not even before coalition partners. We must insist on our national and liberal Zionist path, and not look for ways to support the path of others,” Illouz argued.
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