Liberman slams Zionist Union for opposing enlistment bill

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman says legislation addressing ultra-Orthodox military enlistment set for a vote later today “will be a great contribution to the defense establishment and the state of Israel.”

Speaking at his Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting at the Knesset, Liberman claimed victory for the bill, saying that had it not been for his party, the government would have passed a bill permitting vast exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

“I want to remind all those present here of another meeting at the end of the last winter session at which Yisrael Beytenu stood our ground and prevented another law, a bad law,” he says. “We said we would require two things — a law that is accepted by the IDF and that can pass the Supreme Court, this does both.”

Liberman thanks the opposition’s Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid for supporting the bill, while taking a swipe at the Zionist Union, which has vowed to oppose it.

“I welcome their decision because it shows their real place — between Meretz and the Joint (Arab) List,” he said of the Zionist Union. “They have lost what it means to be a party of statesmen.”

— Raoul Wootliff