Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon was interviewed on Wednesday night, the eve of 22 Tammuz 5772 to discuss the reported breakdown in talks between him and Kadima MK Yochanan Plesner. The two were working during the week to complete the draft bill that would be presented at the next cabinet meeting, this Sunday, 25 Tammuz, but that did not occur as they reached an impasse.
According to Ya’alon, they took a break to permit him to brief Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “and then I heard a commotion outside”. He explains that without realizing what was taking place everyone began speaking of a “coalition crisis”, apparently the work of Plesner who Ya’alon accuses of pushing his personal agenda.
Ya’alon stressed that it is clear to all that as a former IDF chief of staff he is of the belief that all must serve, but he remains realistic as well as responsible, since “one does not change a situation that has existed for 64 years overnight.”
The vice premier feels the dispute surrounds the fact that he feels the talks should focus on how many chareidim must serve, not on how many are to remain in beis medrash. Ya’alon feels his focus is on the positive, how many more will join the IDF annually while Plesner simply wishes to determine no more than 1,500 chareidim will be permitted to learn and all others will be in the IDF, national service or face the consequences. Ya’alon accuses Plesner of working to put them in jail and slap them with fines and he disapproves of his plan and methodology.
Ya’alon rejects Kadima accusations that Likud has changed its position, simply stating Likud is focusing on increasing the number of inductees annually, not on how many will remain in beis medrash and how many will go to jail
“In 2007 there were 305 inductees and close to 2,400 in 2011 and let’s just set a goal, to reach 6,000 by 2017. I think we will reach the goal before then as more and more are willing and wish to enlist, but without sanctions, without jail, without the negative”.
Ya’alon explains that Plesner’s way the chareidim will be boxed in and they will not serve and nothing will have been accomplished. The Likud way, the number will continue to increase annually until all are serving as they should without having to levy sanctions against anyone.
Ya’alon adds that he is motivated by “national interests” and “not a desire to punish”, stressing “there must be one law for all, chareidim and Arabs alike”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
9 Responses
I wonder if Neturei Karta will bentsch shechiyanu now, or will they wait for what will be the inevitable moment when the zionist flag is lowered for the last time?
Maybe if the hilonim try to increase hareidi participation in the army and the economy by moderating their own anti-religious bigotry combined with economic incentives, they might be able to do so. But if they come our screaming “we are here to destroy you”, they don’t have a chance.
There were hareidim in Israel before there were either Arabs or Zionists, and there will be hareidim when the Arabs and Zionists are reduced to subjects studies in archeology classes. The hilonim should remember this.
At first I thought ya’alon seems sympathetic but as I got to the last paragraph I felt a deja vu.
Somehow it reminds me of how yidden used to perserve their yiddishkeit under duress and how in a way it became much harder in the 1800s with the emancipation in europe…as the chassam sofer warned – freedom of religion can sometimes cause leaving religion because instead of being forced not to keep we are gently being enticed to the other side….
Not to say I’m against freedom of religion and how happy I am to live in todays day and age but in this particular case it came to me as a comparisson – let’s not force them to leave the beis medrash, let’s entice them toward it….
So who really is worse of the two evils? Plesner or Ya’alon. Hm
I always thought Yaalon was a man of reason and dignaty. It’s nice to see confirmation.
This is one sick dog
Yaalon is a compassionate and wise man, who simply does not fully understand the crucial role that the Yeshivos play in protecting the Yidden in Eretz Yisroel.
Plesner is an ignorant, vicious, and spiteful man who resents Chareidim and considers them to be nothing more than lazy parasites.
Ya’alon should be commended for using his brain, in a place where most don’t.
Plesner should go to prison
Plesner’s way is better for us because he shows his true colors while the others are not.
With Plesner it will fail! The other way who knows? When they talk sweet like Pharoh in Egypt than there is reason to worry
I, too, have always seen Yaalon as a wise man. I think his rise in politics is a good thing. He’s definitely the best of the former generals. Way better than Barak, Netanyahu, and Mofaz. He actually has brains and actually thinks before he speaks – and when he speaks, it tends not to be complete nonsense. That sounds like little, but compared to the others it’s a lot.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Yaalon rise higher in Israeli politics some day.