Netanyahu goes after the Haredim - who are wary of his respect: "Without status for yeshiva students we'll sit in the opposition"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a closed discussion that the temporary detention law for draft dodgers did not succeed, and that after the elections a broad national government will be formed that will pass a full conscription law. United Torah Judaism, led by Yitzhak Goldknopf, attacked the remarks, called them "spin" and made clear it will not sit in a government that does not regulate the status of yeshiva students and avreichim. A senior Likud official criticized Netanyahu's campaign against the Haredim.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a closed discussion that the temporary detention law, intended to lower the flames and increase the number of recruits in the Haredi public, did not succeed, and therefore there will be no such law in the next government. He promised that after the elections a broad national government will be formed that will immediately pass a full conscription law, and those who do not study Torah will enlist or go to prison. In response, United Torah Judaism chairman MK Yitzhak Goldknopf claimed that the exemption from detention law was "another spin that was not meant to solve anything," and added that his party will cooperate only with those who regulate the status of yeshiva students and avreichim. Another senior party member said Netanyahu did not fulfill his commitment to pass the conscription law for four years, and they would prefer to sit in the opposition than in a government that returns to the same point. Criticism of Netanyahu was also voiced in Likud; a senior party member said the campaign against the Haredim is an insult to intelligence, and the damage caused by the law is indescribable. These remarks come after the High Court issued an interim order preventing the exemption from detention law from taking effect, a day after it was approved in the Knesset by a majority of 58 supporters versus 54 opponents. Netanyahu was absent from the vote on the law, as well as from the Basic Law: Torah Study and the political inquiry committee law.