Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night, the eve of 14 Adar, met with the heads of chareidi factions in Knesset in the hope of reaching agreement on the new draft law. Attending the meeting were Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Knesset Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, and Likud Ministers Ze’ev Elkin and Yariv Levine.
The new draft bill was to have been voted on in a preliminary vote on Wednesday, but it was pulled from the agenda when it became clear it was not going to receive enough votes as some Likud members oppose it along with the Kulanu and Yisrael Beitenu parties, both members of the coalition.
Litzman emphasized he remains firm in his demand, citing he will not vote in favor of the state budget until the draft law has been voted in. He expressed willingness to amend the wording of the law for as long as it remains mutually acceptable.
Last week, the Moetzas Gedolei Torah of Agudas Yisrael convened and the admorim instructed the MKs not to support the budget until the new draft law passed, leading to the current tensions and brewing coalition crisis.
The current law is called “The Basic Law of Torah Study” and states limud Torah is the highest value and therefore, those learning full time are not compelled to serve in the IDF and after a certain amount of years, they are entitled to benefits too. From the perspective of the chareidim, all coalition parties are compelled to back the law as per coalition agreements, but in reality, Yisrael Beitenu and Kulanu insist they will not back the current wording.
PM Netanyahu wants the budget passed and he would like to end this coalition crisis prior to his departure for the US, however, at present, it appears this will not be the case.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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YWN again only reported half the story. The frum MK’s also introduced another law on Monday last week. This law is modeled off of the current law (a yeshiva bochur must learn for a minimum of 45 hours a week, a kollel yungerman 40 hours to qualify for a deferral, annual conscription quotas, etc.), but was not talked about on frum media outlets as part of of a campaign to silence opposition to the law.
YWN also didn’t report what did come out of the meeting. The frum MK’s agreed to establish a committee that will write up a law modeled off of the current law in a way that it will be acceptable on all sides and not be overturned by the Supreme Court.