Netanyahu cancels draft-law statement
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that he would deliver a statement on the draft law but canceled it shortly before it was set to begin, citing “scheduling constraints.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu “backed out because he knows we’ve seen the details of the exemption law and he can’t defend it,” arguing that it is “not historic” and that “not 50% of Haredim will enlist — not even 5%.”
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also weighed in, noting that the IDF is short about 20,000 soldiers. “There are only two options,” he said. “Draft our Haredi brothers to share the burden, or force reservists into another 120 days of annual service, permanently — destroying their careers and family lives.”
See background on the IDF draft law crisis here.
Kan.org.il is the Hebrew news website of the The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation
