Yisrael Eichler
Yisrael EichlerHillel Maeir/TPS

MK Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism) said on Sunday he believes that it will be very difficult to reach an agreement on the Draft Law because the gaps between the position of the haredi parties and the other coalition partners are very large.

"I believe that what we want from them they will be unable to give us, and what they want from us we cannot agree to, so there will be a request for a postponement from the Supreme Court," Eichler said in an interview on Kol Barama.

Eichler was asked whether the haredi parties would be willing to give up on the nationality law against which they have been fighting, in exchange for compromises on the Draft Law.

"You cannot say, 'I will give up on one thing in order to achieve something on a second thing.' We are not giving up anything and we are fighting for everything with the maximum power we have,” he replied.

The Knesset approved the Draft Law in its first reading last Monday. 63 MKs voted in favor of the legislation and 39 MKs voted against it.

The bill was approved despite the haredi parties voting against it, due to the fact that Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party supported it from the opposition.

The law determines recruitment targets for haredim, which grow in number every year, and imposes economic sanctions on yeshivas that do not meet these recruitment targets. Another clause states that the law will be repealed if the haredim fail to meet the recruitment targets for three consecutive years.

The haredim allowed the bill to pass its first reading, but have threatened to leave the coalition if it does not undergo significant changes before it is brought to a vote in its second and third readings.