Deal Allegedly Reached For Criminal Penalties For Haredi Draft Dodgers

A back room deal has allegedly been made between the Yesh Atid Party and Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi Party which will see criminal penalties imposed on haredim who dodge the draft. But is it true?

Deal Allegedly Reached For Criminal Penalties For Haredi Draft Dodgers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A back room deal has allegedly been made between the Yesh Atid Party and Zionist Orthodox HaBayit HaYehudi Party which will see criminal penalties imposed on haredim who dodge the draft.

Ma’ariv reported the deal today, Yeshiva World reported.

HaBayit HaYehudi’s chairman, Naftali Bennett, reportedly will agree to the criminal penalties to prevent the coalition government from breaking apart. Yesh Atid has made it clear that it will leave the coalition if criminal penalties for haredi draft dodging are not written into the new draft law.

Members of Knesset Ofer Shelach (Yesh Atid), Ayelet Shaked (HaBayit HaYehudi), Elazar Stern (HaTnua) and Amar Bar-Lev (Labor) reportedly met and decided collectively that haredi yeshiva students who dodge the draft will face criminal penalties. But they did not agree on whether those criminal penalties will apply in the interim period before the new draft law takes full effect.

However, Shaked reportedly said Ma’ariv’s report is false. She told the haredi Kol Barama radio today that no agreement has been reached regarding criminal penalties for haredi draft dodging.