MK Boaz Bismuth, who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, gave an interview to the haredi Mishpacha newspaper, sparking significant controversy.
The interview, published Thursday morning, sparked significant controversy.
“You can’t force people to enlist in the army. What, are you going to put them in jail? Such nonsense,” Bismuth told Mishpacha in the Thursday morning interview.
He added, “I am someone who loves and respects the haredim. I will not allow us to reach such extremes.”
Following the interview, the activist group “Mothers at the Front” called for Bismuth’s immediate dismissal: “Perhaps he should internalize that you absolutely can force people to enlist in the army - it’s called the Security Service Law, and draft dodgers go to jail under that law.”
They added: “Bismuth, now that you’ve revealed your true opinions, you cannot represent us or the soldiers. Either retract your statements - or resign.”
On Wednesday night, the Deputy Director of the Budget Department sent a letter to the committee’s legal adviser, arguing that the current draft version of the bill does not achieve its intended goals.
“There is a significant concern that the outline might appear to as a mechanism which includes effective sanctions, but in practice, does the opposite, and instead weakens the system of incentives.”