"Why didn't I sign for the settlers? Because that is not terrorism. Only someone who acts against the security of the state, someone who acts to harm [the state]," the defense minister said.
The interim order issued on Tuesday followed a hearing held just a few hours earlier, during which the nine-member panel heard from the different sides represented in the case.
“Qatar financed the October 7 massacre. Qatar’s hands are stained with the blood of those who were murdered and raped, of our hostages and our fallen,” Bennett said in an interview with 103FM.
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on Friday asked the court to strike down the law, arguing that it retains the duty to enlist while removing the consequences for refusal.
The opposition parties reached 70 seats, compared to the current coalition parties who received 50 of the 120 Knesset seats, the N12 poll found.
The vote also comes after Likud’s top internal court rejected a Netanyahu-backed provision that would have allowed the party to cancel its Knesset primaries in the event of a security escalation.
“Israel needs haredi recruits, not haredi detainees,” the government said, arguing that arrests of yeshiva students could reverse a gradual increase in enlistment and risk civil war.
The former minister rejected reliance on Arab and haredi parties, called for a broad Zionist government, and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should leave office.
The A-G warned that the law would create a “political prosecution unit” capable of intimidating police officers, investigators, prosecutors and journalists.
The Otzma Yehudit leader said the parties appeal to different voters, warned against a unity government, and defended his policies on Gaza and security prisons.
Under the current system, the committee includes three Supreme Court justices, two ministers, two MKs, and two representatives of the Israel Bar Association.
