Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz released a statement condemning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to advance the previous version of the haredi conscription law that passed its first reading during the Lapid-Bennett government’s tenure in January 2022.
The announcement came on Wednesday, after weeks of negotiations between haredi representatives and the prime minister’s office and just a day before a final deadline for the state to update the High Court of Justice over its plans to conscript military-age haredi men.
The legal basis for the sweeping exemption from military service expired at the end of June 2023, and the interim period that the government gave itself to develop a new plan expired on March 31, 2024.
“In order to bridge the differences and bring about a broad agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to advance the draft law that passed the first reading in the previous Knesset,” a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office read.
“The law was prepared by the defense establishment after thorough staff work and submitted by the then-defense minister, Benny Gantz,” the statement continued.
The statement added, “The Prime Minister calls on all factions that supported the proposal in the previous Knesset to join the proposal.”
Gantz doesn’t approve
Gantz soon rejected the move and called it a “political maneuver.” The bill that passed its first reading in 2022 was intended as the foundation for a broad “Israeli Service Plan” in which all sectors of Israeli society would need to conduct national service of some form. However, the bill itself, which passed in 2022, was “not enough then” and is “irrelevant to the reality after October 7,” Gantz said in a post on X.
Benny Gantz addressed the Prime Minister in a video: “The law you wish to bring in is not what was outlined by the previous government that I led, it is not the law that I asked to be promoted in the current Knesset, and it certainly is not a law that reflects the security needs of the State of Israel after Oct 7.”
Benny Gantz addresses Prime Minister Netanyahu (Benny Gantz)
“After October 7, the IDF needs soldiers, the country needs servants to the State of Israel and not those who wish to further their political gains”, he continued. “If you continue on this path, you may solve a political problem, but the State of Israel will continue to have a conscription problem and an issue with national fairness in the IDF.”
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman commented on the statement in a post on X. “Everyone must understand that the circumstances have changed from one end to the other,” he wrote, adding, “The State of Israel is under fire from the North, South, East, and Iran.”
כולם חייבים להבין שהנסיבות השתנו מקצה לקצה.
מדינת ישראל נמצאת תחת אש מצפון, מדרום, ממזרח ומאיראן.
כל המצב הזה מחייב חוק גיוס חובה לכולם. כל צעיר וצעירה בני 18 – יהודי, מוסלמי, נוצרי, דרוזי או צ׳רקסי חייבים להתייצב לשירות צבאי או אזרחי.
— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) May 15, 2024
“This whole situation requires a mandatory draft law for everyone. Every young man and woman aged 18 – Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze or Circassian must partake in military or civil service,” he concluded.
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