Religious Zionism MK says Haredi draft law is ‘not good’

In its “current form,” the government’s proposed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription is “not good,” declares Religious Zionism MK Michal Woldiger, whose party has not yet officially announced whether or not it will vote for the controversial legislation.

“In the last form I saw, it is not good. We do have some red lines,” the right-wing lawmaker announces during an economic conference, saying that Haredi conscription must be undertaken gradually.

“We have a one-time opportunity to begin a process of recruiting the ultra-Orthodox [but] a law that says everyone is obligated is a law that I think will destroy this opportunity,” she adds.

Woldiger is one of several coalition MKs who have come out against the bill, which would exempt yeshiva students from conscription. She is one of several lawmakers who signed a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth demanding that the bill be amended with a clause extending recognition to Haredi hesder yeshivas, which combine Torah study with a shortened military service.

Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich has repeatedly declined to state how his party would vote on the bill, although several of his MKs have come out strongly against it.

Channel 12 reported on Monday that reservist activists had claimed that the minister was running an influence operation in support of the bill.