Opposition leader Yesh Atid MK Yair Lapid slammed the government’s proposed haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription law, as other opposition party leaders echoed similar sentiments on Monday.
Lapid’s remarks during a press conference came amid escalating tensions regarding the controversial draft law, which will have its outline presented on Thursday by chairperson of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Likud MK Boaz Bismuth.
However, Ynet on Monday evening cited Bismuth claiming that the presentation will be delayed until next Monday to give time for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to review the draft.
Lapid also expressed his backing for a law that would prevent anyone who fails to enlist in the IDF from voting in elections.
“In the next government, there will be a simple law: anyone who doesn’t show up at the IDF induction center won’t show up at the ballot box. Whoever doesn’t enlist won’t vote in elections,” he said.
Slamming the proposal of the draft law, Lapid said it was “engineered to ensure that no ultra-Orthodox man will enlist in the IDF, be wounded, die in battle, or be part of the Israeli story.”
He said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shas chairman Arye Deri were intentionally advancing “a hollow, deceitful, and fraudulent proposal whose sole purpose is to bring Shas back into the coalition and continue stealing money from hard-working citizens.”
The two haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, both resigned from the government just before the Knesset went into recess in July due to fallout over negotiations regarding the conscription law.
At the time, as the head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein had been developing the bill.
Netanyahu then lost his majority
When the haredi parties left, Netanyahu then lost his majority in the Knesset for the first time since taking office in late 2022. Shortly after this, Edelstein was ousted from his position as committee head and replaced by Bismuth, who will now present his outline of the new law on Thursday.
Bismuth criticized Lapid directly following his statement, speaking in favor of the proposal.
“Lapid once again proves that he understands neither security nor democracy. With God’s help, I will bring a balanced draft law with effective, not fascist, not populist, sanctions, and above all, not the kind that are written just to make headlines,” Bismuth stated.
Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman expressed his support for Lapid’s remarks on creating a law to prevent draft evaders from being able to vote, as his party proposed the bill.
“I congratulate Yair Lapid and the members of his faction for joining and supporting the bill proposed by my party [...] we made a promise, and we will keep it. This is what bloc unity looks like!” Liberman stated.
When Lapid was asked by reporters about plans to form a new government in the next elections, currently scheduled for October 2026, he said he would have no issue in uniting the various parties.
“I will lead the alliances. I’ll make sure there are unifications that will bring victory in the upcoming elections. That’s part of my job,” he said. “I’ll make sure to do it when the time is right, very close to the elections, when the lists are finalized. But I won’t wait for anyone.”
Blue and White MK Benny Gantz vowed during his press conference at the Knesset on Monday that his party “will join only a government that legislates a universal service framework, which includes a draft law.
“We will not allow the service framework to be diluted again as it was in the previous unity government,” he added.
A mass protest initiated by the haredi parties is scheduled for Thursday.
Gantz slammed the scheduled protests, saying they are “dangerous for Israeli society and dangerous for the haredi community itself.”