Talks within the coalition to achieve agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman, and Deputy Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman on the military conscription bill were leaked from yesterday's cabinet meeting. It is assumed that if Netanyahu does not succeed in achieving agreement, he will seek an agreed date for holding a general election for the 21st Knesset.
Yesh Atid chairperson MK Yair Lapid in effect began his election campaign today outside the IDF recruitment base at Tel Hashomer. He called on Netanyahu not to give in to the haredi (Jewish ultra-Orthodox) parties, saying, "Let's pass the bill and then hold elections."
In May 2018, Yesh Atid supported the softer and more flexible version of the bill, so that even though Shas and United Torah Judaism, the two haredi parties, left the Knesset plenum and did not vote, the bill passed its first reading. Lapid and Liberman then immediately declared that they would not accept any change in the bill, while Litzman stated that if the bill were not changed before its second and third reading, he would withdraw from the coalition.
The conscription issue is a politically comfortable one for Lapid, who said today, "What will we tell the amazing young people being inducted into the IDF if Netanyahu again exempts the haredim because of political blackmail? I attended the August induction date in order to tell Netanyahu, 'You have our votes in order to pass this bill. There is no reason to humiliate yourself again before Litzman and the Gur Rebbe.'"
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 13, 2018
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