Israel’s coalition is planning to strip nearly all provisions from the enlistment law and leave only the clause that would release draft evaders, in an effort to push the measure through quickly. Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik has already told closed-door discussions that she will oppose the move on legal grounds, according to a report Thursday morning on Kan Reshet Bet’s “The Morning This Week.”
Coalition officials want the shortcut because passing a new law from scratch on an expedited track is seen as complicated, but they are still determined to advance legislation. The Likud reportedly promised Shas leader Aryeh Deri several days ago that it would bring the bill, but the legal difficulties have pushed the target date to next Monday.
At the same time, United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni and representatives of the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox parties do not see this as a real solution and continue to insist on advancing the daycare subsidies bill. Meanwhile, pressure on the government is also coming from the street.
On Wednesday, thousands of ultra-Orthodox extremists from the so-called Hatzpanniks faction, part of the Jerusalem Faction, blocked the entrance to Prison 10 in protest against the jailing of draft evaders detained by the Military Police. IDF forces were dispatched to the scene. Earlier, ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked Route 4 near Bnei Brak, where five demonstrators were arrested after clashes with police. Earlier this week, Kan News reported that senior Degel HaTorah figures had met to plan an unprecedented protest against IDF enlistment involving tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis, including mass vehicle convoys with flags and loudspeakers meant to slow traffic and protest the detention of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.
