Shas thwarted a last-minute attempt on Monday to pass alternatives to the “Tal
Law” that would require haredim and Arabs to enlist in the IDF or do civilian
service.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved bills by both
Yisrael Beytenu and Independence requiring universal service on
Monday.
Yisrael Beytenu announced that they would do all they could to
pass their “service for all” bill before the Knesset is dissolved, so it would
have to be brought to a final vote after the September election.
However,
Yisrael Beytenu and Independence’s victory proved to be Pyrhhic, after Shas
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Meshulam Nahari appealed the ministerial
committee’s decision, putting the bill on hold until its next
meeting.
Since the committee meets once a week, that will be after the
Knesset is dissolved, and the Tal Law alternatives cannot be brought to any
parliamentary votes in the 18th Knesset.
Shas leader Interior Minister
Eli Yishai met with Camp Sucker protesters in their tent outside the Prime
Minister’s Office Monday afternoon to discuss the options for replacing the Tal
Law, which allowed ultra- Orthodox men to gain exemptions from the army until it
was struck down by the High Court of Justice in February.
Asked why, as
someone who served in the army and someone whose children have served, Yishai
does not support a law requiring service for all, the interior minister said
that he is favor of drafting any haredi man not studying in
yeshiva.
However, Yishai evaded direct questions put to him by Boaz Nol,
one of the leaders of the IDF draft reform protest, as to why he does not
support legislation which would mandate obligatory IDF or national service for
all.
He also repeated a claim he has made several times, stating that
there are “thousands” of haredim who are waiting to enlist into the army
programs designed for ultra-Orthodox men but who have yet to be
drafted.
The failure to pass the bill to its first Knesset reading caused
outrage among the leaders of Camp Sucker – the IDF draft-reform movement – who
accused the prime minister of reneging on commitments he made in a meeting they
held with him last week.
Idan Miller, one of the of the protest leaders,
alleged that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had concocted the appeal against
the Yisrael Beytenu bill with Shas, in order to get support to dissolve the
Knesset.
“The credibility of the Prime Minister has been damaged here. He
looked us straight in the eye and said he would not use the elections as an
excuse not to pass a bill mandating service for all,” Miller said. “But now he’s
gone and sold out the citizens of the state to the haredi parties in a dirty
political deal.”
Nol, Miller and other leaders of the IDF draft reform
protest movement met with Netanyahu last week, and said that the prime minister
had promised he would introduce a bill mandating service for all, and that he
would be willing to break up the government and go to elections if opposed by
coalition parties.
The Prime Minister’s Office statement issued a vague
statement following the meeting, saying that the Tal Law would be replaced with
a more equal and just law, but did not mention any specific time
frame.
Nol claimed that despite Shas’ appeal against the bill on Monday,
Netanyahu could have advanced a government-backed bill of his own for a first
reading.
He added that the Prime Minister’s Office has also suggested to
the movement that despite the pending dissolution of Knesset, the government
will call a recess hearing in order to pass the bill for its first
reading.
“We expect the Prime Minister to stand by his word and the
commitments he made to us,” said Nol.
A spokesman for the prime minister
said that Netanyahu remains committed to passing a new law providing for greater
equality in the burden of military service.
He added that he was unaware
of the specifics of the commitments made by the prime minister in his meeting
with the protest leaders last week.