Eli Shtivi, the father of hostage Idan Shtivi, visited the Yesh Atid party meeting to call on Yair Lapid to join the government as a show of unity.
"We need to shoulder the burden and focus on our beautiful country, not on the shouting outside. I am sure we all want the same thing - to have a country. My son is there with all the hostages and all the murdered, and for their sake, we need to be united, roll up our sleeves, and go for it. I trust Yair Lapid to take action," Shtivi said.
He added that "The withdrawal of Gantz and Eisenkot was a very wrong decision. I hope they and Yair will all join the government. I know you don't like to hear this, but there is no other choice. Otherwise, we will simply lose the war."
Lapid, who spoke before the father, stated: "Tomorrow, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will start discussions on the law for desertion and refusing to serve. It is a betrayal of the soldiers, a betrayal of the reservists, a betrayal of the Israeli middle class, and a betrayal of the IDF. The Israeli government is undermining national security. Netanyahu is selling out our soldiers. He and his smile."
"During a war, they are trying to exempt tens of thousands of young people without any justification. Every day soldiers are killed, since we last met here on Monday, 16 soldiers gave their lives for the country, and the yeshiva students are hiding in their tents of Torah," he claimed.
According to him, "To recruit them, no adaptation or adjustment process is needed. There is already such a process, it's called basic training. You come to basic training, and after a few weeks or months, depending on which corps you are in, you are already adapted and fit. They should not tell us 'we will die and not enlist', those who die every day are the ones who enlist. Enlisting is what our children do. It's what reservist soldiers do. It's what every Jewish citizen in Israel does when they turn 18 - enlist in the Israel Defense Forces."
"We need to finish this law in the current session, even if it means convening the committee five days a week from morning to evening. If reservists can serve 150 consecutive days, the committee can also serve them. There is no reason to delay. We have all been dealing with this for ten years. All we need to do is make proper and correct decisions. Do what is good for the army and for managing the war. I call from here to the coalition members of the Knesset who still have a drop of conscience (and I'm sure there are still some people who care about the security of the country and its values) - come to the committee, work with us, let's pass a real, effective draft law so that our soldiers know that the Israeli Knesset stands behind them," Lapid said.