Smotrich – Gantz is the government's 'weak link'

LEFT: Religious Zionist Party leader MK Bezalel Smotrich. RIGHT: National Unity Party chair, Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Minister-without-portfolio MK Benny Gantz is the government’s “weak link,” and the US administration’s decision to host Gantz for meetings is an attempt to ‘drive a wedge’ within the government and the people of Israel, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a press conference on Monday after his party, the Religious Zionist Party (RZP), held its weekly meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem.

“It is no secret that the US administration is pushing to end the war and recognize a Palestinian state,” Smotrich said. “The administration has encountered a determined and unified right-wing government and is looking for fissures. Gantz is the weak link, as one who hosted [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abu Mazen at his home, [and] one whose fundamental view is to support a Palestinian state,” the finance minister said.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in the Knesset. (credit: Amir Cohen/Pool/Reuters)

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in the Knesset. (credit: Amir Cohen/Pool/Reuters)

“The US administration wishes to drive a wedge within the government and Israeli society, and advance its plan using Gantz,” Smotrich added. He called on Gantz to declare his commitment to the “Israeli government and Knesset’s opposition to a Palestinian state” publicly on US soil.

“We must project unity and speak with one voice to the entire world, and we cannot let anyone use a ‘divide and conquer’ [tactic] on us,” Smotrich added.

A call for elections

Both Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid and Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman called in their respective weekly press conferences on Monday for the country to head to an election.

Liberman first called for an election on Sunday, after opposing it for months because it would harm Israel’s war effort. The Yisrael Beytenu chairman argued on Monday that “enough is enough,” as “every one of the cabinet members is driven by ego and political considerations only. Where is the ‘together we shall win?’ If three cabinet ministers cannot step out and face the people of Israel with a unified message, how can we even win?” Liberman said.

Head of the Israel Beyteinu party Avigdor Liberman speaks to supporters as the results of the exit polls of the Israeli elections are announced, at the party’s campaign headquarters in Modi’in, November 1, 2022. (credit: FLASH90)

Head of the Israel Beyteinu party Avigdor Liberman speaks to supporters as the results of the exit polls of the Israeli elections are announced, at the party’s campaign headquarters in Modi’in, November 1, 2022. (credit: FLASH90)

In addition to Gantz’s trip to the US, Liberman’s comment referred to dueling press conferences by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, in which Gallant said that he would only promote a new law to draft ultra-Orthodox (haredi) men into the IDF if it enjoyed the support of all members of the emergency coalition, including Gantz, and Netanyahu responded that “total agreement is only in North Korea” and that Gallant was angling towards an election, which would be “our enemies’ dream come true.”

Lapid responded on Monday that the opposite was true, as “our enemies’ dream come true is your government of disasters.” According to Lapid, Israel had two options: “[Either] a bad, dangerous, crumbling, and toxic government, or an election that will lead to a good government that will bring security back to the State of Israel. There is nothing that scares [Hamas leaders Yahya] Sinwar and [Ismail] Haniya more than an efficient, security-oriented Israeli government, with international backing and a functioning economy,” the opposition leader said.

A continued discussion on drafting haredis in the army

THE ISSUE of the haredi IDF draft continued to be a hot political topic in the Knesset on Monday.

Yesh Atid proposed a no-confidence vote in the Knesset plenum over what it claimed was the government’s lack of political ability to draft haredi men en masse to fill the ranks of the IDF.

“The government in the meanwhile is doing everything to enable them to dodge the draft,” Lapid said in the Knesset plenum during the debate over the no-confidence motion. “As long as this government is in power, this problem will not be solved. They will bring some false plan, they will delay again and postpone again and give a hand to mass draft-dodging again,” Lapid said.

Rivlin meets with Haredi soldiers (credit: WIKIMEDIA)

Rivlin meets with Haredi soldiers (credit: WIKIMEDIA)

Smotrich also addressed the issue in his press conference, and said that his position was “clear, sharp, and decisive: the haredi public must take part in Israel’s defense and security missions, and enlist in the IDF and national service.”

Smotrich said that he has discussed the issue with haredi leadership, and that “the way to do this is via dialogue and debate, but at the same time also determination and a strong position on this moral and just demand.”

Liberman’s and Yair’s proposals for haredi recruitment

Both Liberman and Lapid put forward their proposals for the recruitment of haredi men to the IDF. Liberman said that his party would propose a bill on Wednesday that was “very simple,” in that it would require all 18-year-olds to enlist no matter their sector, and the IDF would determine who it wants to accept. Those who evade the draft would face sanctions that all draft dodgers face, namely a prohibition from leaving the country, working in local or national government, and more.

Avigdor Lieberman, Yair Lapid (credit: KNESSET SPOKESMAN’S OFFICE, NOAM MOSKOWITZ)

Avigdor Lieberman, Yair Lapid (credit: KNESSET SPOKESMAN’S OFFICE, NOAM MOSKOWITZ)

Yesh Atid’s bill, which it put forward on Monday, would allow an exemption for 2,000 haredi men to delay their service to study in a yeshiva until age 22, after which they will be exempt from IDF service and will be able to join the workforce. Everyone else would be required to conduct either military or national service, and not doing so would be a criminal offense. In addition, Yeshivot that do not comply would lose their funding from the state.

Labor chairwoman MK Merav Michaeli said in her weekly press conference on Monday that the influx of new proposals was unnecessary.

“There is no need for a special law for drafting the ultra-Orthodox,” Michaeli said. “There is the Defense Service Law, which clearly says that everyone must be enlisted. The IDF should be allowed to implement the law, and exempt from conscription those whom it thinks are not suitable for conscription. On an individual level, not on a group level,” Michaeli said.