Lapid: Whoever does not enlist will not receive money from the (French) state.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Sunday that the conscription law that will be presented this week is "a face of the most horrific government in the history of Israel."

Lapid saw - in a post on the X platform - that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is lying and evading responsibility, and whoever continues in it is an accomplice in this shame."

Lapid's statements regarding the controversial conscription law come amid a state of anticipation experienced by Israeli society, as the order issued by successive governments granting religious Jews (Haredim) exemption from military service in exchange for their Torah study in Jewish religious schools is supposed to expire at the end of this month.

The Supreme Court gave Netanyahu's government until March 31 to reach an understanding regarding the recruitment of the Haredim and their obligation to military service, as the number of those who can be assigned currently stands at 157,000 people, but the army does not recruit them and they are considered - according to the law - deserters from military service. .

Netanyahu finds himself facing a real danger that threatens to dismantle his government coalition, due to moving the draft law, which successive governments have been postponing, to ensure the Haredi (religious) parties’ continued support for it and avoid its overthrow.

Haredi recruitment

In light of the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip for the sixth month in a row, Lapid had previously stressed that the army needed to recruit Haredim, saying, "We all bear the same burden, and those who do not recruit will not receive money from the state."

He continued, "If 66,000 Haredi youth are recruited, the army will obtain 105 new battalions necessary for Israel's security."

The Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews (Eastern Jews) in Israel, Yitzhak Yosef, had warned that if the religious were forced into military service, they would all travel abroad.

Israeli Channel 12 quoted him as saying, "If they force us to join the army, we will all travel outside the country, buy tickets and go."

He added, denouncing, "There is no such thing. The secularists are putting the state at stake," and continued, "They must understand this, all the secularists who do not understand this matter."

Reactions

Yitzhak Youssef's statements sparked reactions within the Israeli government and the war council.

War Council Minister Benny Gantz said that everyone should participate in military service in this “difficult time” - including the Haredim - in response to Rabbi Yosef’s statements.

Gantz added that the words of the chief Sephardic rabbi “represent moral harm to the state and Israeli society,” as he put it.

For his part, the head of the "Israel Our Home" party, Avigdor Lieberman, accused Rabbi Yitzhak of endangering Israel's security.

As for the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, he said, “We believe in resolving the conscription issue through understanding, and serving in the army is a great privilege for the Jew who defends himself and his country.”

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies