From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Shas boycotts Knesset committee votes in protest over lack of draft exemption bill
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party boycotts a vote on several bills in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation to protest the government’s failure to advance a bill exempting yeshiva students from enlistment in the IDF.
“We are abstaining from voting because of the government’s failure to pass laws that are important to Shas in particular and the ultra-Orthodox public in general,” Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur of Shas is quoted as saying in Hebrew media reports.
“We cannot continue as if everything is as usual, when we receive nothing from the government,” he declares, adding that his party has not ruled out voting against the coalition in the future.
While the Hebrew press reports that both Shas and United Torah Judaism are involved in the boycott, a source tells The Times of Israel that only Shas is declining to vote with the rest of the committee.
According to the ultra-Orthodox Behadrei Haredim news site, the Haredi parties may boycott voting in the Knesset plenum tomorrow.
Earlier this month, UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf threatened to bolt the coalition, stating that his ultra-Orthodox party would not be able to remain part of the government if a bill exempting Haredi yeshiva students from military service is not passed before the 2025 state budget comes up for approval.
The Times of Israel Community.