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The government on Tuesday urged the High Court of Justice to extend by four months the time allowed by the court to pbad a new law governing the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox in the military.
This request for delay comes after Avigdor Liberman's resignation as Defense Minister earlier this month, removing his party from Yisrael Beytenu from the government and leaving the coalition with a minimum of 61 seats out of 120 to the Knesset.
Liberman has been a strong advocate for a bill drafted by the Ministry of Defense and setting minimum annual targets for ultra-Orthodox conscription. If this is not achieved, it would result in financial penalties for yeshivas, or rabbinic seminars, where they study. At the same time, it would also formalize derogations for the vast majority of Yeshiva students.
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In its application to the High Court, the government stated that Liberman's resignation "caused a stir in the coalition" and that he no longer had the support to pbad the law in its current form.
He added that this delay was necessary to "avoid a situation of" normative vacuum "on a particularly sensitive issue" in Israeli society.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (3rd-L), Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (3rd-R) and Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman (2nd-L) attend a conference in Lod on November 20th, 2016 . (Kobi Gideon / GPO)
Last September, the High Court ruled unconstitutional a 2015 version of the Israeli bill granting exemptions to most yeshiva students. It gave legislators one year to implement new directives on ultra-orthodox recruitment.
The court then gave the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until December 2 to adopt an amended version of the bill regulating enlistment. If the new legislation is not pbaded, the current regulations on the postponement will expire with the time allowed and thousands of students in yeshiva will not be able to renew their postponements, which will make them eligible to be drafted by l & # 39; army.
After the submission of the application, Liberman said that the High Court should not delay the "barely an hour" delay, noting that, in addition to most of the coalition legislators, opposition Yesh Atid said that he would support the bill.
Yair Lapid (R), leader of Yesh Atid (right), and Avigdor Liberman, leader of Yisrael Beytenu, hold a joint press conference at the Knesset on February 29, 2016. (Miriam Alster / Flash90)
"The demand is all about political considerations – political survival does not justify undermining the security of the state," said Kan's public broadcaster.
Lapid, a longtime supporter of writing seminar students to the Israeli army, accused Netanyahu of "being handed over to the ultra-Orthodox and fleeing to the High Court."
Although Lapid said that Yesh Atid would support the current bill, allowing him to be adopted without ultra-orthodox support if the rest of the coalition and Yisrael Beytenu voted for him on Monday, he called on Netanyahu to guarantee that the yeshivas sanctioned by the law will not be. receive financial compensation
"Whoever does not sign up will pay," he wrote on his Twitter account. "It's the law."
On Wednesday, Council of Elders Agudath Yisrael of the Torah Council, a rabbinical body that takes much of the decision of one of the two factions making up the ultra-orthodox party of Judaism of the United Torah. (UTJ), should meet in order to decide whether to leave the government if the law was to be pbaded.
At this meeting, the council will decide whether legislators Yaakov Litzman, Meir Porush, Yisrael Eichler and Menachem Eliezer Mozes of Agudath Yisrael will leave the coalition if the law is pbaded in the Knesset in its present form, which could trigger early elections.
Last month, the rabbinical council said that UTJ did not intend to overthrow Netanyahu's government on this issue. A party source told the Times of Israel that Agudath Yisrael's Council of Elders of the Torah had agreed to consider supporting the amended bill if "some changes were made."
Before that, the ultra-Orthodox coalition partners had threatened to overthrow the government if the amended version submitted by the Ministry of Defense was implemented.
Many members of the ultra-Orthodox community are fleeing the compulsory military service that affects most Israelis. In addition, the community has always benefited from general military exemptions for religious seminar studies.
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