Rivlin calls for coalition to reach understanding on Haredi enlistment

President Reuven Rivlin calls for increased dialogue and understanding between opposing coalition parties to prevent elections over a push by ultra-Orthodox parties for legislation that would exempt religious seminary students from the military draft.

“This is not the first government to be threatened by this issue,” Rivlin says during an address to the Israel Press Council.

But, he continues, “we will not be able to solve the issue of conscription with force, but only via agreement. If we cannot agree to tackle the disagreement with dialogue then the issue will continue to destabilize the political system and deepen the tension between different sectors of society.”

Rivlin calls on the parties to see the disagreement “not as one between those who hate the army on one side and those who hate the Torah on the other, but rather between Israelis who all respect both the army and the study of the Torah.”

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman of United Torah Judaism has been threatening to boycott voting on the state budget vote if a law exempting the ultra-Orthodox from mandatory military service is not passed first, but coalition partner Avigdor Liberman, who serves as defense minister, has vowed that his Yisrael Beytenu party will not allow such a measure to pass.

The Kulanu party leader, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, on Friday also threatened that his party would resign from the government if the budget is not passed within two weeks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night that “there is no reason for us to go to early elections, and with good will, that will not happen.”

— Raoul Wootliff