Lapid and Bennett Come Out Swinging Against Draft Law: “This Is a Bill Written by Aryeh Deri”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid launched a fierce broadside Tuesday night against the government’s latest version of the chok hagiyus, dismissing it outright as a “draft-dodging law.”
Lapid argued that Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu withdrew his planned statement on the matter simply because “Bibi ran away, because he knows we know the details of the law and he has no way to defend it.”
Lapid accused the government of orchestrating “a complete fraud,” claiming the bill is being controlled not by the IDF but by Shas leader Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchok Goldknopf. “This law is full of holes that were put there deliberately. No quotas, no sanctions, no enforcement,” Lapid insisted.
He said the Israeli public expects responsibility and fairness, but “instead gets yet another betrayal of the soldiers. When faced with a choice between the fighters and the draft-dodgers, Netanyahu chose the draft-dodgers and betrayed the fighters.”
Lapid also charged that the aim of the bill is “to restart the flow of money to the yeshivas,” and claimed that Israeli taxpayers are funding “60 billion shekels a year for draft-dodgers who don’t show up at the induction center.” The bill, he said, “disgraces the soldiers, the 920 who fell, and the 20,000 wounded,” vowing: “This law can’t be defended and it will not pass. We will stop it.”
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett likewise tore into the proposal, warning that the IDF is currently short 20,000 soldiers. According to Bennett, Israel faces only two realistic paths: “Either draft the chareidim or impose 120 reserve-duty days a year on reservists and destroy their lives.”
Bennett said the government is advancing legislation that “will block any chance of drafting chareidim. It’s Israel-bluff. It’s a fully political law. Its purpose is to funnel billions into a system that doesn’t enlist.”
He added bluntly, “This is a law written by Aryeh Deri. It’s a fully political law.”
{Matzav.com}
