
The leaders of the haredi Lithuanian Jewish community, Rabbi Dov Lando and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, met on Monday evening to discuss the political situation in light of the stalemate over the Draft Law.
At the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided that Knesset members from the Degel HaTorah faction of the haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Party will support the bill to dissolve the Knesset, which is expected to be brought to a vote this coming Wednesday.
During the meeting, Rabbi Hirsch expressed his view that due to the lack of progress in legislation concerning the haredi community, there is no choice but to support the move to dissolve the Knesset. Rabbi Lando added, "When Torah learners are persecuted, it is a greater danger than Iran."
Earlier on Monday evening, it was reported that US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is working to prevent the fall of the government and even spoke with Rabbi Hirsch on the matter.
According to the report on Channel 13 News, Huckabee told the rabbi that holding elections at this time, with the Iranian issue on the agenda and amid the threats from Yemen, would create difficulties for Washington in backing Israel.
This past Thursday, the Council of Torah Sages of the Agudat Yisrael faction of UTJ, convened for a special discussion on the political situation. In a statement published after the meeting, Agudat Yisrael announced its support for dissolving the Knesset.
The negotiations on the Draft Law have been stalled in light of demands by MK Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, that sweeping sanctions against draft evaders be included in the law - even in cases where draft targets are nearly met.
A proposed framework involved a tiered system where meeting 90% of the draft targets would result in a 20% reduction in yeshiva funding, and meeting 80% would trigger a 40% cut. However, Edelstein insisted that any achievement below 95% would lead to the total revocation of funding.
The sanctions proposed by Edelstein encompass a wide range of restrictions: revoking tax credits for working women, removing housing subsidies, revoking driver’s licenses, restricting travel abroad, canceling property tax reductions, ending discounted housing programs, and imposing a tax on first-time home purchases.
Additional proposed penalties include denying subsidies for academic studies and daycare subsidies, removal of public transport discounts, and even maintaining a constant risk of arrest, as documented in a list shown to haredi representatives.