The special committee for the settlement of the status of yeshiva students, of which MK Uri Maklev of Degel Hatorah is a member, met on Thursday, 22 Tammuz, from the morning hours for a long day until late at night.

Despite the committee’s announcement that votes are expected on Thursday, committee members estimate that it will not be possible to reach agreements during the day, and that the discussions will continue over the next week.

During the discussion, a storm arose when a representative of the Defense Ministry spoke of the general sanctions set forth in the law and said, “I want him to feel the pain in his purse.” Maklev responded angrily to him: “You are an anti-Semite.”

Maklev, a member of the committee, explained his non-interference in the recent discussions and said that we are here to preserve the status of lomdei Torah. “I do not intervene in the discussion because these sections are now talking about young men who leave the world of Torah. We disagree here on almost every word spoken. We cannot agree that there is inequality in recruitment when there is a great shortage of lomdei Torah”.

In the course of the hearing, MK Uri Maklev slammed MK Elazar Stern of Yesh Atid, who explained that because of Lapid’s contacts, the opinion of the legal advisor of the Defense Ministry on the criminal sanctions in the draft law were published. MK Omar Bar-Lev agreed. According to Maklev, they intentionally told only part of what is contained in the agreement to distort the truth.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)