Yisrael Beytenu's Dan Illouz made clear on Friday that he would object to a law exempting haredim from military service, even if the political camp to which he recently transferred advanced it, after the leader of his party, Avigdor Liberman, stated that he would be willing to compromise on such a law and sit with the haredi parties in the government.
"I understand the desire to prevent additional elections. But the price can not be an exemption law," Illouz, who left the Likud in protest of its support for the law. "This is a clear promise made to voters before the elections. This is the reason that I moved from the Likud to Yisrael Beytenu."
According to Illouz, the necessity for conscription is not just a moral question, but rather stems from the workload on reservists and from the country's security and economic needs. "Reservists serve for hundreds of days. The IDF is screaming for soldiers. The economy can't handle it. The security challenges that we face are giant," he stated and insisted that those issues have precedence over the discussion about STEM studies and integration in the economy.
Illouz recounted his struggle against the bill that the previous coalition promoted, and declared that he would act in the same manner if the other camp were to initiate such a bill as well. "In the 25th Knesset, I fought against the coalition's exemption bill. I was removed from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee because of it, and the bill did not pass. If needed, I will fight against the exemption bill if it comes from the other side, even as a civilian. I managed then, and I hope I'll manage this time too.
Alongside his opposition to a compromise on the haredi conscription issue, Illouz proposes another way to prevent another round of elections: forming a Zionist unity government based on agreed-upon guiding principles, while abandoning the division into political blocs.
"I'm not a man of political blocs. What matters to me in a government is the policies it advances," he stressed.
"The right way to prevent another election is to abandon the political blocs, establish agreed-upon guiding principles, and form a Zionist unity government that will win wars, draft haredim into the military, and implement significant economic reforms."