Likud minister likens reservists’ threats to halt volunteering to mafia ‘protection’

A minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party says the “reasonableness” bill will be passed in the coming days “as planned,” while railing at pilots and other reservists who have suspended their volunteer service or threatened to do so in protest of the judicial overhaul.

“The Knesset and government of Israel cannot afford to surrender to the protection threats of political insubordinates,” Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli tweets, comparing the reservists’ actions to a mafia extortion racket.

Energy Minister Israel Katz, a longtime Likud member, similarly vows the legislation will be passed in the next couple days, whether in its current version or more broadly “agreed upon” format.

“I represent citizens who aren’t willing to have their votes be annulled because of insubordination threats, or because of the blocking of Ben Gurion Airport, Ayalon [Highway] and train stations,” Katz writes on Twitter. “There’s an attempt here to exploit military service to force the government to change policies.”