Haredi members of the Knesset stated that the office of the Prime Minister of the occupation informed them that the draft law exempting Haredim from military service will be put up again for discussion in the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Knesset tomorrow, Monday, and that it is still expected to vote on the draft law dissolving the Knesset in preliminary reading next Wednesday.
The “United Torah Judaism” bloc announced, last week, that it was submitting a draft law to dissolve the Knesset in protest against the lack of progress in procedures for legislating the conscription law, and after Netanyahu informed the Haredi parties that this law would not be put to a vote in the Knesset due to the lack of a supportive majority in the coalition. However, the coalition presented a draft law to dissolve the Knesset, last Wednesday, in an attempt to control the decision regarding the date of early elections.
The spiritual leader of the United Torah Judaism bloc, Rabbi David Landau, announced on Thursday that there is no longer confidence in Netanyahu due to the non-enactment of the draft exemption law and that the Haredim will no longer be part of the bloc supporting Netanyahu.
Landau announced today that he “instructed members of the Knesset from United Torah Judaism, yesterday, not to be drawn into political tricks and to support the dissolution of the Knesset on Wednesday.” Channel 12 quoted sources in United Torah Judaism as saying that procedures for dissolving the Knesset will continue to advance even if Israel resumes the war against Iran.
The Haaretz website also quoted sources in the Shas party as saying that they had been informed by Netanyahu’s office that he would try to submit the draft law and that this would calm the tension between Rabbi Lando and Netanyahu. Possibilities for enacting a conscription exemption law will be discussed in the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, despite the presence of opposition to the law within the coalition and from the committee’s judicial advice.
But the newspaper reported, quoting members of the Knesset in United Torah Judaism, that if the draft exemption law is put to a vote, the rabbis will be asked to decide on their support for dissolving the Knesset, which indicates that Netanyahu hopes to postpone the vote on dissolving the Knesset.
