Netanyahu Outraged After Gallant Sides With Gantz On Chareidi Conscription

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conveyed to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu that on the issue of chareidi conscription, he would support whatever Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz proposed.

It is understood that the prime minister is outraged over this decision, and in a conversation about Gallant with his confidants, he threatened to delay the passage of the law to extend the mandatory military service in the IDF for conscripted and reserved troops—a measure that is important for the army and Gallant.

Netanyahu was angry that Gallant was essentially leaving him to deal alone with the chareidi parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – on this matter, threatening his coalition.

Gantz’s National Unity Party believes its presence in a wartime government poses an opportunity and an obligation to promote legislation that would introduce mandatory service for hared men. Chareidi parties have been putting up roadblocks against the law, seeking to discuss the conscription issue after the municipal elections this Tuesday.

The hot potato of chareidi conscription came up again after Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara said in her response to the High Court of Justice that if primary legislation for exempting chareidim from conscription was not advanced by April, the state would be required to begin conscripting them. Currently, the exemption for chareidim is in effect due to a Cabinet resolution from the summer, which froze chareidi conscription in order to advance legislation on the matter, but the decision is set to expire at the end of March. For its part, the government did not advance the issue due to the ongoing war in Gaza.

In the current public mood, the issue of chareidi conscription complicates things for Netanyahu, Religious Zionism Party leader Bezalel Smotrich and Otzma Yehudit Party head Itamar Ben-Gvir. On the one hand, their voters demand that chareidim share the burden of service in light of the war; on the other, all three want to maintain coalition unity and not clash with the chareidi parties.

Senior government officials believe that they will try to delay the chareidi conscription issue again, whether by requesting an extension from the High Court or by finding a legal construct through the authority of the defense minister, thereby leaving the situation as is.

Another possibility is to reach a compromise with the chareidim. One option is to raise their conscription quotas in law, but such a solution would fail to satisfy the anger among Israelis who have demanded equality of burden and are unwilling to accept the increased burden on sectors already bearing it for years.

Senior coalition members admit that even without a change in chareidi conscription, the law to extend the mandatory service for other sectors will eventually pass, because it is an important and urgent military need. (Yisroel Hayom)

{Matzav.com Israel}