Litzman digs in over refusal to OK Liberman’s conscription law demand

United Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman reiterates that his party will not join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government if legislation on drafting Haredi yeshiva students to the army isn’t changed, heralding tough coalition-building for the premier.

“The conscription law will not pass along the lines of the current bill, and the prime minister will have to solve the coalition’s problems,” Litzman tells Army Radio.

Avigdor Liberman, head of the secular right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, has been insisting that “not one letter” of the current law bill be changed, and earlier this week said he would rather opt for new elections than give up on the law.

Litzman, the current deputy health minister, said all his party’s demands were coordinated with fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas, creating a united front that is also likely to be joined by the religious Zionist Union of Right-Wing Parties.