Until last month, the Chareidi parties had despaired of the chance of passing a recruitment law, as it seemed impossible mainly due to the firm insistence of then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant not to engage in legislation that would not also be agreed upon by the heads of the opposition, Kikar H’Shabbat reported.

Just before UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf announced his resignation from the government due to its failure to pass a recruitment law, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced his decision to fire Gallant and appoint Minister Yisrael Katz as the new Defense Minister.

From the moment Gallant was dismissed, the Chareidi parties realized that this was a real opportunity to pass a recruitment law. At Katz’s instruction, the Ministry of Defense, the IDF, coalition leaders, and senior members of the Chareidi parties began to work towards reaching a conscription law that would meet the goals and capabilities of the army while also satisfying the demands of the Gedolei Yisrael and regulating the status of lomdei Torah.

However, Kikar H’Shabbat was informed that in recent days, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara has begun to interfere in the details of the recruitment law and its central clauses, which is causing difficulties in discussions to reach an agreed-upon law.

Among other things, Kikar learned that Baharav-Miara demands that the recruitment law include quotas for the number of lomdei Torah, a clause that all the Gedolei Yisrael oppose, and the likelihood that the Chareidim will agree to it is zero.

“The Attorney-General is obsessively intervening in the conscription issue,” one of the heads of the Chareidi parties said. “She knows that there is no chance we will agree to quotas for lomdei Torah, that the number of lomdei Torah will be limited. She is doing everything to bring down the government.”

Additionally, in meetings held by senior members of the Chareidi parties in recent days, they raised the fact that the Attorney-General repeatedly interferes in every issue related to the Chareidi parties. “She wants to bring down the government,” they said.

Indeed, in recent days, the Agudas Yisrael party decided to join Minister Shlomo Karhi’s initiative calling for the removal of the Attorney-General, with Ministers Goldknopf and Porush signing the call. However, at this stage, Shas refuses to join Karhi’s initiative, and Chairman Aryeh Deri instructed Knesset members not to sign the document.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)