Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) on Thursday spoke about the impending enlistment of haredi yeshiva students.
Speaking at a cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new haredi school, Gafni said, "Without Torah learners, we have no right to exist in this land."
"After 2,000 years of exile, the People of Israel have returned to be a Jewish nation in its land, and that is in the merit of the Torah learners, who are continuing the tradition."
He stressed, "I praise the soldiers, who risk their lives in Gaza and here on the northern border. I pray together with the entire nation of Israel that they return home healthy and whole. But without the Torah learners we have no future, and therefore we need to preserve them with all our might."
On Thursday evening, Israel's Supreme Court issued an interim order to freeze all funds intended for haredim eligible to draft into the IDF.
Earlier on Thursday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara submitted an answer to the Supreme Court regarding the Draft Law, separate from the one submitted by the government. In it, she stated that haredim must be drafted starting on April 1st and that support must be revoked from yeshivas after a short acclimation period.
Prior to her submission, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Supreme Court for a 30-day extension to advance legislation of the Draft Law.