UTJ MK Porush warns, enforcement of ultra-Orthodox IDF Draft Law could lead to ‘civil war’

Ultra-Orthodox Knesset Member Meir Porush of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, which recently withdrew from the government, began a hunger strike last Thursday in Jerusalem, in front of the Office of Legal Advisor to Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara

In recent conversations with Haredi news channel Kikar HaShabbat (Sabbath Square) and with the Religious Zionism party's Channel 7 News, MK Porush warned that the disputes over the ultra-Orthodox Draft Law may lead to a civil war. 

Porush explained his decision to protest outside Baharav-Miara's office, saying, “I’m not getting into an argument with her.”

“The attorney general says there is a plan for 35% of the Haredi public to be combatants, that's her judgment,” Porush continued “How many of those 84,000 who were sent orders came? No one came. That means they want to fight with the Haredi public.” 

He noted that Baharav-Miara has not pursued the Israeli Arab sector as she has the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi).

“There is no law that automatically exempts Arabs, but the recruiter doesn't call them, why doesn't she exercise her authority?” he asked rhetorically. 

Porush was asked whether he agreed with the compromise proposed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who joined the interview in the protest tent. Karhi had supported requiring Haredi men of military age who are not studying in a yeshiva to enlist.

Porush responded, “First of all, I wish we were holding there. But the Attorney General said 35% of Haredim should enlist as combatants and it doesn't work; she should come and say she made a mistake.” 

“She doesn't do any soul-searching, she enjoys it, that we're in a fight with Likud, she is the one activating everyone against, I came here to protest against what she is doing, to destroy,” he continued. 

“You're talking here about tens of thousands of believers for whom the Torah gives them life,” Porush said, referring to yeshiva students. “I don't see any country that can cope with hundreds of thousands of citizens who believe in something and the state tries to thwart them.” 

“The state will be disrupted and it will be dysfunctional and they won't be able to live here this way,” the ultra-Orthodox MK said. “You can't go to war with one and a quarter million Haredi citizens who want to live here in a certain lifestyle, it can't be.”

He said if the government persists in pursuing arrests for Haredi draft-dodgers, it may lead to a civil war. 

Porush declined to address claims that, due to demands from the Hasidic courts he represents, he opposed laws that could have regulated the status of yeshiva students and potentially led to an earlier compromise, saying, “I don't want to get into this argument. Right now, we are in trouble.” 

He also warned that if the government began to arrest draft-dodgers, “there will be a terrible fight.” 

“If young men get arrested, it will definitely escalate into a conflict. I don't want to say it will be small compared to what is called a ‘civil war.’ There would definitely be a terrible fight here,” he declared. 

Speaking to Channel 7, Porush said he believes the attorney general will target the Religious Zionism movement if she succeeds against the ultra-Orthodox.

“They don't realize that when the attorney general succeeds in doing what she wants to do to the world of [Haredi] yeshiva, she will come to the Hesder [Religious Zionism] yeshiva and say, ‘Why are they only serving 14 or 18 months?’, and that everyone will serve 32 months, and there too she will demand that it happen as she wants,” Porush warned. “Religious Zionism needs to think about what it is doing so that we are not harmed. If we are harmed, they will be harmed, too.”