Opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman shamelessly besmirched Gedolei Yisrael and tried to incite anger against the Chareidi sector on Monday.

Lapid spoke at a meeting of the Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beiteinu parties, saying: “The Israeli government is always trying to scare us and warn us about a civil rebellion. There is already a civil rebellion in Israel. When the Yated Ne’eman calls on the Chareidim to refuse to comply with recruitment orders – that is civil rebellion. When the demonstrators in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem shout ‘We would rather die than enlist,’ while IDF soldiers are dying every day, that is civil rebellion. When HaRav Hirsch says, ‘It is a mitzvah to be a draft dodger,’ that is civil rebellion.”

Lapid continued: “Section 109 of the Penal Code states: ‘Whoever incites or persuades a person obligated to serve in the armed forces not to serve or not to appear for military action, shall be punished with five years in prison. Whoever incites or persuades a person serving in the armed forces to desert from military service or from military action, or assists him in desertion, shall be punished with seven years in prison.”

‘There is no other name for what is happening now except civil rebellion…the only civil rebellion currently occurring in Israel is under the auspices of the government. Civil disobedience against the IDF and its soldiers, against the law, against the authority of the state. The Israeli government, instead of stopping this, encourages it. It encourages evasion, refusal, and civil disobedience…this is not a full right-wing government, this is the government of evasion. This is the government of deserters. This is the government of those fleeing from battle,” he claimed.

“The 7,000 orders that began to be issued yesterday are just the beginning. Every Chareidi young man of conscription age should receive an order just like our children. Those who don’t show up to the enlistment centers will not receive a license, will not receive a passport, will not receive a single dollar from the state budget. It is time for the state to act like a state. It is time for the civil rebellion to stop.”

Lieberman, of course, joyfully joined in the incitement, telling the press at the meeting that “being a draft dodger is not a mitzvah, it’s a chillul Hashem.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)