On Thursday evening, the Agudas Yisrael wing of the United Torah Judaism party addressed Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in a letter, stressing that they will not lend their support to the upcoming budget unless the Draft Law is enacted. The letter was endorsed by UTJ chairman Yitzzcok Goldknopf, MK Yaakov Tesler, and MK Moshe Shimon Roth.
The correspondence refers to the coalition agreement established on December 28, 2022, between United Torah Judaism and the Likud party. This agreement included a clear pledge to create legislation that would establish a framework to exempt yeshiva students from mandatory military service.
According to the letter, despite the coalition’s agreement, no progress has been made on advancing this vital legislation, and the budget approved for 2023 lacked the necessary allocation of funds to regulate the status of yeshiva students.
Agudas Yisrael issued a warning that unless the legal framework is enacted by the time the 2025 budget is put to vote, yeshiva students may find themselves at risk of legal action for failing to enlist in the IDF.
The letter urges the Prime Minister to honor his commitments and swiftly ensure that the appropriate legislation is passed. The signatories also demand that, in the interim, the status of yeshiva students be temporarily formalized through a governmental framework to prevent any punitive measures against them for their military status.
The Knesset members made it clear that, following the guidance of their rabbis, they will vote against the budget if the issue concerning yeshiva students’ status remains unresolved.
{Matzav.com Israel}
The Draft Law shouldn’t go through until the non-yeshiva religious students will be exempt too.
I question the wisdom of demanding a law. Better to let sleeping dogs lay. Any law that the chareidim will agree to will be opposed by the supreme court and many of those who enlist. Why fight to move this issue to the front burner?
Wouldn’t it be easier to just join the army?
And have chareidi bochurim come home as Jewish Goyim?
They need term limits in Israel if they are to ever have any serious change. These sleazy slimy politicians get into office and refuse to leave until their dying day.