Mofaz, ruling out compromise on national service, refuses to meet with Netanyahu

Kadima party chairman Shaul Mofaz, angered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dissolution of a Kadima-led panel tasked with drafting new universal draft legislation on Monday, refused to meet with Netanyahu on Tuesday to try to solve a crisis that threatens the stability of the national unity government.

“There’s no reason to meet with Netanyahu,” sources close to Mofaz said. “Netanyahu made his decision and there’s no point in talking after the fact.”

The sources indicated, however, that Mofaz would be prepared to meet with Netanyahu on or after Wednesday, which is when the panel’s remaining members say they intend to file their recommendations.

Kadima MK Meir Sheetrit said Tuesday morning that, given the dissolution of the committee, there was no reason for the party to remain in the coalition. Sheetrit also said he regretted his decision to vote in favor of Kadima joining the coalition in the first place.

“Kadima will not compromise on the principle of universal service,” Mofaz said after meeting with President Shimon Peres on Monday. “If that principle is violated, it will be a fundamental violation of the national unity agreement — with the inherent consequences.”

The Plesner committee, led by MK Yohanan Plesner, was tasked with drafting legislation to allow for conscription of ultra-Orthodox and Arabs along with the rest of the population.

The current Tal Law, which allows religious yeshiva students to defer enlistment, was declared unconstitutional by the High Court in February. The law is set to expire August 1.

Netanyahu reached out to Mofaz late Monday to smooth things over after the dissolution of the panel, which the prime minister said was necessitated by a number of defections that meant its recommendations would not gain a majority in the Knesset.

Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud) said Tuesday morning that he was convinced a solution would be found before the August 1 deadline.

“Everybody understands that there is now an ax hanging above their heads. Either the sides will compromise and draft new legislation or the general draft will be implemented for all 18-year-olds,” said Elkin in an interview to Army Radio.

Responding to the likelihood that the Plesner Committee would go ahead and publish its recommendations even after the prime minister relieved it of its mandate, Elkin said that doing so would be meaningless, that the committee had been dismantled and that its recommendations did not represent the coalition’s position and would never be adopted by the Knesset.

Elkin did not rule out the possibility that the dispute would threaten the coalition, but said he anticipated the sides would find a compromise in the end. Netanyahu held phone conversations with the heads of the other coalition parties Monday night in an effort to lay the groundwork for a solution that would be acceptable for all sides. He reportedly threatened that if no such solution was found, everyone would be drafted.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, the and Yisrael Beytenu chairman, said Tuesday that he had spoken to Netanyahu and felt that the prime minister was serious about passing a law that would make military or national service mandatory for everybody.

Liberman said that the clock was ticking and that with the Knesset going on its summer break on July 27, time was running out to pass legislation. He reiterated his demand that all 18-year-old males, including ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israeli youths, be drafted to either military, or national service. Liberman has said his party is drawing up its own legislation to that effect. He stressed, though, that his party had no intention of leaving the coalition over the affair.

Shas MK Ariel Attias said that reaching a decision on the draft was critical, but suggested a gradual change rather than the immediate one proposed by the committee.

“There is room for change, but they can’t be too abrupt,” said Attias. He proposed that a new plan be worked out whereby at the end of a five-year period, 60 percent of ultra-Orthodox men would have to serve in military or national service.

United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Litzman said that he had no intention to compromise on the status quo, since that was the basis on which his party had joined the coalition. He rejected Attias’s proposal for a five-year plan and stood firm in his insistence that Netanyahu honor the coalition agreement he signed with his party.

Litzman said there were draft-dodgers everywhere — among secular youth and Israeli Arabs as well as in the ultra-Orthodox community — and that his sector of the demographic should not be unjustly targeted.

“The prime minister will have to present us with his plan. We will examine it and consult with the religious authorities before deciding what to do,” Litzman said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded to the spat by encouraging all sides to work together to complete new legislation by the end of the month, and asking that the IDF “be left out of politics.”

Mofaz and the Kadima party joined Netanyahu’s ruling coalition in a surprise move in May, giving the prime minister a massive national unity government. One of the central tenets of the agreement to join the government was the ability for Kadima to shape a Tal Law replacement.

With 28 seats, Kadima is the largest party in the coalition, though Netanyahu would maintain a narrow majority should the party leave.