Lapid Agrees To Compromise On Haredi Draft
According to an Israel Channel 10 news report that was reportedly
confirmed by both Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and Naftali Bennett’s
HaBayit HaYehudi party, Yesh Atid’s Lapid agreed to Bennett’s request to
increase the number of haredi draft exemptions from the 400 Lapid wanted to 2,000 per
year. Lapid also agreed to raise the haredi draft age from 18 – as it is
for all other draft-eligable Israelis – to 21.
Yair Lapid, left, Naftali Bennett, right, in the Knesset earlier this month
Lapid Agrees To Compromise On Haredi Draft
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
According to an Israel Channel 10 news report that was reportedly confirmed by both Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party and Naftali Bennett’s HaBayit HaYehudi party, Yesh Atid’s Lapid agreed to Bennett’s request to increase the number of haredi draft exemptions from the 400 Lapid wanted to 2,000 per year. Lapid also agreed to raise the haredi draft age from 18 – as it is for all other draft-eligable Israelis – to 21.
HaBayit HaYehudi negotiators will bring the compromise to the table when they meet with their counterparts in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-Beiteinu party later today, the Jeusalem Post reported.
When HaBayit HaYehudi negotiators met with Likud-Beiteinu on Friday, they raised the issue of compelling haredi schools to teach Israel’s core curriculum which includes science, math, English Modern Hebrew language and civics. Most haredi yeshivas do not teach these subjects or allot an hour or two weekly to them.
Likud-Beiteinu reportedly also raised the issue of teaching the core curriculum when it met with the Sefardi haredi Shas Party on Friday. Shas has already joined Likud-Beiteinu’s leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
HaBayit HaYehudi also asked Likud-Beiteinu to change the deal Likud-Beiteinu reached Tuesday with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua Party. However, a HaBayit HaYehudi source told the Post that the changes HaBayit HaYehudi requested were not drastic.
“Opening a deal that has been made is not ethical. I don’t think the prime minister would break an agreement with me, I don’t think Yair Lapid would agree to that, and I won’t let it happen. I will stand for all the commitments in the agreement being maintained, period. These commitments were made to me, to my party and to the world,” Livni warned Saturday night during an Interview on Channel 2’s Meet the Press program. She also attacked Lapid for making a deal with HaBayit HaYehudi, calling the right wing Zionist Orthodox party’s goals the opposite of what the Center-Left bloc both Livni’s Hatnua and Lapid’s Yesh Atid espouse. Yesh Atid has 19 seats; Habayit Hayehudi has 12; Likud-Beiteinu has 31; Hatnua has only 6; Labor, which has resolved to stay in the opposition, has 15.
“I hope Labor’s decision to remain in the opposition is not final. My joining is an opportunity for Labor to reconsider. [Labor’s chairwoman] Shelly [Yacimovich] should realize the situation has changed,” Livni reportedly said.
On Saturday, Yacimovich sent a letter to supporters blasting the partnership of Lapid and Bennett.
Netanyahu has had difficulty forming a coalition because he wants to appease his haredi allies – something no other major party is willing to do. But Netanyahu realizes that he will need haredi votes to stay in power, either after the new coalition he forms dissolves or when new elections are called.
The Hebrew-language Sof Hashavua newspaper reported Friday that if a new elections have to be called because a government cannot be formed, former prime minister and Netanyahu enemy Ehud Olmert would run.
“I am running this time because the last election proved the public does not really want Netanyahu. I don’t care what my chances are or what people say. If Bibi [Netanyahu] doesn’t form a government and there will be new elections, I am running,” the paper claimed Olmert said in a private conversation.
Olmert’s spokesman, however, rejected Sof Hashavua’s report, calling it speculation.
Making a limited number of exemptions will be fun- you can watch the haredi world tear itself apart when all the exemptions go to people with connections. It's what destroyed Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe 120 years ago, and it will destroy the charedim now.
Posted by: Nachum | February 24, 2013 at 02:06 AM
It's what destroyed Orthodox Judaism in Eastern Europe 120 years ago, and it will destroy the charedim now.
From your keyboard to God's eyes.
Posted by: Jeff | February 24, 2013 at 05:41 AM
They're going to meet on Purim to decide the next government . How fitting.
Posted by: Office of the Chief Rabbi | February 24, 2013 at 06:59 AM
They're going to meet on Purim to decide the next government . How fitting.
Posted by: Office of the Chief Rabbi | February 24, 2013 at 06:59 AM
I wish there were a "Like" button.
Posted by: Jeff | February 24, 2013 at 07:04 AM
It's not a compromise if the other side won't budge.
Posted by: A. Nuran | February 24, 2013 at 09:19 AM
I think an adequate trade would be this: give the Haredim draft exemptions in exchange for civil marriage/divorce and official recognition of Masorti and Reform brands of Judaism (re: conversion, burial, etc).
Posted by: dapper danny | February 24, 2013 at 09:48 AM
I think an adequate trade would be this: give the Haredim draft exemptions in exchange for civil marriage/divorce and official recognition of Masorti and Reform brands of Judaism (re: conversion, burial, etc).
Posted by: dapper danny
they shouldnt have any of it. it would be like compromising with a group of underground businesses and agreeing that if they start to charge sales tax they will be exempted from income tax.
Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | February 24, 2013 at 11:18 AM
lapid is a rasha ben rasha
and jewish values hater
he wants to do what germany did not manage
he will also fail
let his children and his friends' children learn torah full time if they wanty equality
his evil plan will never ever come to fruition
oh and i forgot he is a liar and this can be clearly demonstrated by his recent statements about marijuana when he lied 100%
Posted by: anon | February 24, 2013 at 12:45 PM
let his children and his friends' children learn torah full time if they wanty equality
Great idea. Let all secular Israelis learn Toyreh full time. Then no one will have any money.
Posted by: Jeff | February 24, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Netaniyahu desecrates memory of his heroic brother and his family by including Shas in coalition.
Posted by: Ben | February 24, 2013 at 04:58 PM
Fasten your seatbelts and keep arms and legs inside the roller coaster ride.
Who is going to blink first? Bibi has a finite amount of time left to form a government. More than anything he wants to be PM. He does not want any situation where someone else is asked to form a government.
More than anything the haredi want a seat at the table to push their agenda. If there are new elections, they might have less bargaining power.
And the collateral damage will be unnecessary Obama bashing. I heard already that Secretary of State Kerry isn't going to Israel on his trip to Europe and the Middle East and tongues are wagging in the fact-free zones. And there will be more if Obama has to delay his trip to Israel.
Some cannot grasp the simple fact that the Isreali government is in limbo, and it is inappropriate for such visits until a new government is formed and we know who the PM and FM are going to be.
Posted by: Steven W | February 24, 2013 at 05:08 PM
Jeff -- you and OCR get my imaginary "likes."
Will somebody explain why anyone wants Ehud the Accidental -- again? "Anyone but Bibi" includes thousands of people with better records for competency and honesty.
Posted by: Kevin | February 24, 2013 at 05:12 PM
They are all politicians. Anyone who believe what they promise are bigger fools than Goyim kids who believe in santa claus or Hispanics who believe in the 3 maggi.
Posted by: Account Deleted | February 24, 2013 at 11:50 PM
Lapis agrees to compromise - what are the Haredim giving up in exchange?
Posted by: Shimmy | February 25, 2013 at 06:41 AM