Why is Bibi's coalition dodging the draft law?
Who should be handing over a down payment — demei retzinut in local parlance — and to whom?
That’s the latest sticking point between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the chareidi parties. For the fourth week running, this issue has led Netanyahu to instruct Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth to hold off on bringing the draft law to a committee vote. Although some signs of optimism were sent from the chareidi side, an official answer has yet to materialize, and so, the committee is frozen in place.
Meanwhile, it was a banner week for the editors of the rabbanim-and-rebbes photo pages. From every home, court, and shtibel — in a sort of unspoken competition — came photos of MKs seated beside rabbanim, draft bill spread across the table, all present poring over it with somber faces.
For the past two years, the chareidi political arena has been marked mostly by avoidance, and the explosive issue of the draft law was left to the few MKs willing to handle the matter. The sudden wave of visits by lawmakers to the homes of the gedolim indicates a shift for the better.
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