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.