Haredi MKs reacted furiously to Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's announcement that he had established a special committee tasked with forming a new haredi draft law.
Senior sources from both haredi parties told the Kikar Hashabbat website that Liberman's insistence on not including haredi representatives in the task force was liable to topple the coalition. "I think he wants an explosion, there are coalition agreements, it has nothing to do with him," said one. "The committee which he established is meaningless."
Another senior official added that "he did not consult us before the committee was set up. We can also set up a committee - it is meaningless".
Liberman announced on Thursday that he designated a special task force dedicated to drafting a new law regarding haredi IDF service. "Recruitment into the IDF is too important a subject to turn it into a political tool for gathering votes," said Liberman said, adding that "I decided that the law would be formulated by the most senior professionals in the IDF and the Defense Ministry."
The task force will be comprised of Defense Ministry legal adviser Itai Ofer and representatives from the IDF's Manpower Corps and the IDF Rabbinate. "This law will be written without background noise," vowed Liberman.
The haredi parties and Liberman have been having an increasingly tenuous relationship lately. Liberman infuriated the haredim last month by publically visited an Ashdod mall on Shabbat as a protest against what Liberman alleged was increasingly rising levels of religious coercion in the city.
"I’m done up with Avigdor Liberman. Liberman trampled the Sabbath and has crossed every line. Even Tommy Lapid, one of the greatest haters of religion, did not dare to do such things. There are things that are beyond personal friendship," said Shas leader Aryeh Deri.