The former number two man in Yesh Atid, Shai Piron, who served as Minister of Education in the previous administration, has come out against his former boss.

As the new draft law is being formulated, grabbing media headlines in Israel, for former minister speaks out in a column in Yediot Achronot, in which he expresses criticism against the party’s version of a new draft law.

Piron writes, “The new plan of equality of the burden is a virtuoso thought of those who want to give a response to the wounds of Israeli society, a solution of political survival at the expense of a deep internal national conflict that will pass to future generations. This is a social wound that threatens to dismantle us.”

“My claims are not only the outline of the Defense Ministry, but also the law of equality of the burden that led to a Yesh Atid party in which I was a member,” he said. According to Piron, “dealing only with the chareidim, abandoning the Arab question, is an improper act, from a national and moral point of view.

“You have to tell the truth. It is not only Torah study that drives the chareidi society. I support learning Torah as a way of life, and I dare say that it is a national goal. But to say that everyone should study Torah a whole day for years, is like saying that everyone should study medicine. Torah study requires talent, perseverance, and abilities that everyone cannot by definition define as chareidi.

“What drives chareidi society is the fear of encountering Israeli society, and the yeshivas, a worthy, important and historic place, have become a city of refuge that protects its residents from encountering Israeliness. Many young are frustrated as they cannot learn all day and they cannot enter the workplace.”

In the course of his speech, Piron tries to touch on the point at which the chareidim fear recruitment and write that “the story is not quotas, numbers and exemptions … Israel’s future is undergoing a dramatic test: Can we create principles of shared identity? Shared?”

According to Piron, “the sweeping renunciation of Arab and chareidi service is a renunciation of the common future, and everyone understands it, except for those who want to survive politically.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)