Illustrative
IllustrativeFlash 90

Just one day before Monday night’s surprise move of a unity government in Israel, which cancelled the planned early elections, members of the ‘suckers tent’ protest movement demonstrated against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

The ‘suckers tent’ is made up of individuals who were opposed extending the Tal Law, which regulated the exemption of hareidi soldiers from enlisting in the IDF, and attempted a gradual increase of hareidi army service, which was recently annulled by the Supreme Court.

The protesters maintained that hareidi men who do not serve in the IDF are not pulling their fair share of the burden of military and national service and want a blanket draft.

The demonstrators were upset because the dissolution of the Knesset and holding elections in September would have effectively extended the Tal Law into December.

“Last week, [Netanyahu] invited us to his office and told us that he’s going to pass the alternative to the Tal Law,” Zahava Elon of the Forum for Sharing the Burden told Arutz Sheva. “Two days later, he’s already dissolving the Knesset, which means that the law cannot pass before the next election.”

She added, “We demand that he pass the first reading of the alternative to the Tal Law and then dissolves the parliament. That way, when the new parliament is established they can finalize the law within one week.”

The new unity government agreement between the Likud and Kadima renders the protest irrelevant, at least for the time being, because the agreement calls for the Tal Law to be replaced by the end of July. Netanyahu and Mofaz will head a team which will be tasked with forming the new law, according to reports.