With the draft bill on its way, the moment of truth is here
The road to approval was anything but smooth, and even after the chareidi answer was delivered, question marks still hovered. Even after a principled chareidi “yes” was relayed directly to Netanyahu, the PM’s circle continued emitting discontented murmurs. The Prime Minister’s Office initially explained that the chareidim hadn’t done “full-fledged teshuvah,” so the PM couldn’t bring the hammer down on rebellious Likud MKs.
“In all honesty, we’re swamped,” one senior aide told me, ticking off the list. “The internal Likud convention elections, the tug-of-war between the chief of staff and the defense minister, the elimination of Hezbollah’s chief of staff in Lebanon, the Gaza crisis, the ongoing drama every night with Washington, and the exhausting preparation for the court testimony.”
The chareidi response was swift: Netanyahu was told that the minimum approved by the rabbanim is also the maximum that can be accepted. “Anything beyond what the rabbanim permitted — with unprecedented draft quotas that we’re agreeing to vote positively for — simply can’t be expected,” was the message. Netanyahu listened — and acquiesced.
To his credit, once the green light came from both Shas and Degel HaTorah, Bibi switched into action mode. In his eyes, the draft crisis is the last major obstacle between him and finishing his term — and he’s treating it accordingly.
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