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"

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.