Some opposition MKs cautiously optimistic over possible Haredi draft legislation

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"

MK Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief, speaks at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on June 18, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesman)
MK Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief, speaks at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on June 18, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset spokesman)

Some opposition MKs express cautious optimism that the Knesset may pass an ultra-Orthodox draft law which they find acceptable.

Speaking with the Times of Israel outside the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a debate over the ultra-Orthodox draft bill, Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, an alternate member of the committee, appears upbeat.

“I believe that this is very important, maybe a breakthrough that we are leading in order to integrate the ultra-Orthodox in Israel. I think we have to finish this law as soon as possible and to have many new soldiers in the IDF,” he says.

Asked if there is a real chance to modify the bill, Tur-Paz says he believes “the only way the law will pass is if it will be very clear that thousands of young ultra-Orthodox guys who are relevant to [join] the army will go into the army in the coming year. Nothing less than that will be approved by us.”

“I don’t know [how] to predict if we will succeed, but we are working very hard at it,” he adds.

Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen sounds a similar note, calling the atmosphere in the meeting “excellent” and claiming that those in the committee “completely understand that this is a historic moment and the story isn’t just the enlargement of the army but a moral story of equality of the burden.”

Coalition lawmakers in the committee appear willing to advance a law drafting the Haredim, he adds.

New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar is less sanguine, however, telling the Times of Israel that a change in the law “is possible but I don’t think the government will do that.”

“I said in the discussion that if we cannot legislate a good law, it’s better not to legislate a law at all,” he states.

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