Member of Gantz’s party rejects PM’s Haredi draft move as ‘lame, transparent trick’

MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen of Benny Gantz’s National Unity party slams as a “lame and transparent trick” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he’s advancing a Haredi enlistment bill previously endorsed by Gantz.

Gantz had issued a warning to Netanyahu not to promote his own version of legislation on the highly divisive issue, with the premier’s decision widely seen as an attempt to defang that warning and compel Gantz’s party to back it.

Writing on X, Farkash-Hacohen says: “This is not at all a ‘brilliant’ trick by the prime minister. On the contrary. Only an immoral prime minister like ours can, one minute after such a difficult Memorial Day, advance such a lame and transparent trick at the expense of the citizens of Israel.

“What was justified before October 7 is not justified today,” she says.

The ultra-Orthodox parties fiercely object to drafting yeshiva students to the military, while the High Court of Justice has ruled that the current situation violates the principle of equality and critics of the Haredi community argue that it is forcing the rest of the population to shoulder the burden of risking combat fighters’ lives in battle.