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8 Teves 5761 - January 3, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Draft Arrangement Continued Until Rosh Chodesh Sivan
by Eliezer Rauchberger

On Monday, 5 Teves, the Knesset approved, by a large majority, a temporary order according the Minister of Defense the authority to defer the drafting of bnei yeshiva. This temporary order will be in effect until rosh chodesh Sivan, as a result of the suggestion of Rabbi Gafni, who asked that sufficient time be given to the extend the law or pass a more comprehensive one after the Knesset returns from its Pesach recess.

46 MKs, from most of the parties of the Knesset, voted in favor of the law at its second and third readings that took place late at night Monday, the last day of the Knesset's session before the elections. 27 MKs opposed it and one abstained. Among the supporters was the chairman of the Likud party, Ariel Sharon. Among the opponents was Prime Minister Barak, who made active efforts to thwart the law by imposing party discipline on his Labor party during a meeting which took place on Monday in the Knesset. Many members of One Israel, however, simply absented themselves from the voting.

The results of the voting constitute an additional parliamentary defeat for the prime minister, who made a sudden and drastic turnabout in his position. Though he engineered the passage of the Tal law last summer, now he became one of the leading opponents of the law to defer to military service of the bnei yeshiva. To emphasize his new stance, he even left a security cabinet meeting in the middle and came to the Knesset to vote against the special "temporary order." He sat by himself at the government table in the Knesset. Not even one other minister identified with his position nor was even present in the plenum during the final voting.

In the afternoon, the Knesset approved the temporary order at a first reading. 60 members of the Knesset supported the move and 37 opposed it. The supporters were from UTJ, Shas and included nearly all of the Likud Knesset members, as well as its chairman, Ariel Sharon, and members of Am Echad, Mafdal, Ha'ichud Ha'leumi, Yisrael Beitenu, Cheirut, and the Arab parties, as well as Minister Melchior from One Israel, who violated party discipline to cast his vote. The opponents were from Labor, and included Prime Minister Barak, Minister Raanan Cohen, Dalia Itzik and senior party members such as Uzi Baram, Ofir Pines, Eli Goldschmidt, and members of Meretz, Shinui, Yisrael B'Aliya and the Democratic Choice.

The parliamentary majority in the voting was the result of the extensive efforts of the representatives of UTJ, who worked very hard over the past few days to recruit a large majority for the law. It was necessary to pass all three stages of the bill in one day, since this was the last Knesset meeting until the elections more than a month from now.

During the deliberations in the Knesset, Rabbi Ravitz read the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Shmittah Veyovel on the importance of those who dedicate themselves to Torah study. Rabbi Gafni protested the hypocrisy of the Prime Minister, who now opposes even a temporary law for five months, and has recanted even his declarations to the High Court. Rabbi Meir Porush said that Meretz's people also knew that a law such as the Tal Law would be enacted, and that the coalition agreement which they accepted included their consent to this law. He then turned to the Prime Minister and told him that as a seventh generation Yerushalmi, Barak can view him as a "genuine Palestinian," and as such he asks him to consider his request: "Have pity on us, and let our yeshiva students study Torah, and don't harm us."

The Labor party decided to impose party discipline in the vote on the law. Nonetheless, many members of the party, including top ranking ministers, chose to be absent from the plenum at the time of the voting. Among those who were absent were: Ministers: Shochat, Ben Ami, Ramon, and Peres; and MKs Tarif, Ben Menachem and Weitzman Shiri. Minister Roni Milo (Center) was also absent during the voting, as was his colleague in the Center party, Dan Meridor. MK David Levi also did not appear.

During the vote on the first reading of the bill, a number of members of the pro-draft Awakening movement unfurled a banner in the plenum guest observation area saying, "Don't betray the soldiers." They refused to leave and were forcibly removed from the plenum and ejected from the Knesset premises.

"I am one of the only secular politicians who is capable of effecting an agreement on the topic of the drafting of yeshiva students. On this issue, it is impossible to coerce. We have to reach an agreement, and I will reach such an agreement," Ariel Sharon, the chairman of the Likud said at a meeting of the Knesset correspondents a short while before the Knesset plenum voted on a first reading of the temporary order to arrange the deferral of the drafts of the bnei yeshiva.

The chairman of the Likud claimed that even in his speech before that well-known vote, the phrase he repeated more than any other one was "with agreement." He said: "The Nation is torn apart, and we can only correct the situation through consent. I said that then, and I am saying it again today. During the ferment of these days, it is impossible to reach an agreement. Therefore the idea of a temporary order is the correct and obvious step to take."

 

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