Rabbi Litzman to Netanyahu: I Will Resign If Draft Bill Isn’t Postponed

Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Yaakov Litzman on Tuesday told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he would resign from the government if the High Court won’t extend the validity of the current draft law within a week, the end of the summer session in the Knesset.

Rabbi Litzman is seeking to pressure Netanyahu to ask the High Court to extend the current law – which was supposed to expire in September – for another few months, which would allow additional time to work on amendments to the law and to present it to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah for their approval.

The new bill is expected to go into its second and third readings in the Knesset next week.

Chareidi opposition on the proposed new law centers on recommendations for setting quotas for the number of yeshivah students joining the army, and economic sanctions against yeshivos if these targets are not met. Furthermore, the new law would include a clause stating that if a recruitment rate of at least 85 percent of the annual targets is not met for three consecutive years, the law exempting the yeshivah students will expire after 12 months.

The deadline is a consequence of a directive of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah who instructed the MKs to leave the coalition if satisfactory legislation is not passed by the end of the summer session of the Knesset.