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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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