It is “unacceptable” for the Knesset to go on recess during the current national security crisis, hawkish opposition politician Avigdor Liberman declared on Monday, demanding that his fellow lawmakers cancel the legislature’s upcoming spring recess.
Taking a vacation while 134 Israelis are held hostage in Gaza, Hezbollah rockets fall on the north, and the issue of ultra-Orthodox enlistment remains unresolved “is neither reasonable nor logical,” the Yisrael Beytenu chairman told reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting.
The Knesset is set to end its winter session on April 7 and reconvene on May 19.
Turning to the issue of the Haredi military draft, Liberman pledged that his party, whose own universal enlistment legislation was recently shot down in the Knesset plenum, would “vote against any bill in which clauses on targets, quotas and exemptions appear” — a reference to recent proposals by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and National Unity chief Benny Gantz.
Lapid’s bill would require yeshivas to meet steadily rising annual quotas for enlistment in order to maintain their budgets, while Gantz’s proposal calls for a gradual increase in ultra-Orthodox enlistment while allowing the continued existence of a small “elite who will continue to study.”
“These proposals are not intended to solve the problem of recruitment once and for all,” he stated.
“We demand that there be one bill: Every young person at the age of 18 reports to the induction center and is drafted into the army or for civil service.”
Liberman also called on Gantz — whose relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become increasingly strained since his National Unity party entered the government on an emergency basis late last year — to quit the coalition, arguing that he had to “to think about what is good for the people of Israel.”
In a sign of the growing tensions, on Monday morning National Unity MK Matan Kahana declared the current government “the worst and most terrible” in Israel’s history.”
The current government has “no idea how to deal with all the security and economic challenges,” Liberman continued, calling on its members to “go home.”
New Hope – The United Right chairman Gideon Sa’ar also panned the government’s conduct of the war during his party’s faction meeting on Monday, its first since its split from Gantz’s National Unity last week.
“We believe in the ambitious goals set by the security cabinet for the war. They are ambitious, as I said, but they are achievable,” the former senior Likud lawmaker said. “Unfortunately, the rate of military progress, the rate of military pressure has decreased in recent months” and has even had knock-on effects on the conflict with Hezbollah in the north, he said.
“In the first week of the war, I prioritized the establishment of the emergency government over my membership in the limited [war] cabinet,” but “we no longer have this privilege,” he insisted, calling his split with Gantz an “opportunity to try and influence a change in the direction of the war and to make our voice heard.”
“We joined the government that we opposed only because of the war and only to influence the war issue. If we cannot do this, we cannot be in the government.
“Either way – we will act out of national responsibility, and out of a commitment to achieving the goals of the war.”
Lapid joined in the chorus of criticism, claiming during his Yesh Atid party’s faction meeting that Netanyahu was endangering Israel’s security by delaying the enlistment of the ultra-Orthodox.
“The Israeli government is preparing to request [from the High Court] another postponement of the conscription law. This is a repugnant act. I have no other expression,” he said.
“The debate about recruitment should have ended on October 7. The military has been saying this for months. The chief of staff said it, the defense minister said it. We need to recruit at least 10,000 Haredi young men.”