At the last minute, the Knesset plenum refrained from voting
on the first reading of the temporary law to continue the
current arrangements for the drafting of yeshiva students
for a year. UTJ's representatives had no choice but to agree
to the postponement of the voting.
In the Knesset, a majority was arranged to approve the
temporary law at a first reading. However, shortly before
the voting it became known that Prime Minister Barak was
planning to totally remove the proposal from the Knesset
table, as permitted by Knesset regulations due to the fact
that it a government proposal.
UTJ and Shas Knesset tried to persuade Barak and chairman of
the government coalition Ofir Pines not to retract the
proposal, but in vain. Having no choice, they were forced to
agree to a compromise according to which the law will not be
totally removed form the Knesset table, but that voting will
be postponed to a later date, until the High Court decides
the motions filed for an additional extension in the
deadline for arranging the draft status of yeshiva students
which may enable the passage of the full, "permanent"
law.
After the announcement of the Knesset Speaker that the
voting was postponed, a tremendous commotion erupted in the
Knesset. Opponents of the law thought they could defeat it
in a vote. Chairman of Shinui Tomy Lapid protested the
postponement and claimed that "deals" had taken place. He
then asked to transform the issue into a no-confidence
proposal against the Prime Minister. Chairman of the Meretz
party in the Knesset Zahava Gal-On began to shriek
(literally) and called the postponement "a grab, a
disgrace."
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz, who arrived at the Knesset directly
from his sickbed in order to vote, tried to explain the
importance of the law to the Knesset members. He said:
"There is no doubt that we are handling one of the most
important laws in the country. This law is very important
for the Torah world, and for the Jewish nation. It is a law
which is absolutely vital to us from every aspect one
regards it. Because this law is so extremely important to
us, a majority of the members the committee which prepared
it, and of which I was a member, sincerely wished to pass
it, and to settle the issue at least temporarily by means of
a limited order for a year. However, to my dismay, the law
got caught up in political events which occurred all of a
sudden, and I hope that we will pass the law as soon as
possible."
Rabbi Moshe Gafni noted that at the meetings of the special
committee which prepared the law, Tomy Lapid himself
proposed asking the Supreme Court for an extension of a
number of months in order to arrange the law, and suggested
that in the meantime the situation be arranged through a
temporary measure. For that reason, Rabbi Gafni attacked
Lapid who, he said, did an about-face, attacking the law and
the idea of the a temporary measure which he himself had
proposed. Rabbi Gafni also attacked the Prime Minister, who
on Sunday (13 Kislev) asked the Supreme Court for an
extension so that the law could be passed, while he now
asked to totally remove the law form the Knesset table after
learning that nearly 80 percent of the Knesset members
support the law.
Rabbi Yaakov Litzman claimed that there is no reason to
postpone the voting on the law, and said: "We'll repay the
government in the same kind of coin at another time."
Rabbi Meir Porush said that UTJ is interested in an
immediate vote. However he explained that when Barak asked
to totally remove the law from the Knesset table, we had no
choice but to agree to the postponement of the vote. Rabbi
Porush sharply attacked the Meretz representatives saying:
"When the coalition agreement was signed with Barak a year
and a half ago, Sarid knew that it included the anchoring of
the yeshiva draft deferments in law. Had they passed the law
then, Sarid and Ran Cohen would certainly have both
continued as Ministers. So don't behave so self-righteously
here today."
Shas chairman Eli Yishai said: "One the eve of the
elections, hypocrisy is triumphant." He explained that
Shinui and Meretz who screamed and shouted simply did not
understand what happened. "I also want the proposal to be
brought to a vote. We have a majority. I sincerely hope that
the Knesset will vote for the law as you demand," he told
the Shinui and Meretz MKs.
Earlier, UTJ filed a motion with the High Court asking it to
grant the Knesset a four month extension for legislation of
the temporary order for the draft exemption of yeshiva
students.
In their request of 9 Kislev, the petitioners reviewed the
chain of events from the time the High Court issued its
decision two years ago to the effect that the Defense
Minister was acting illegally when he granted draft
deferrals to yeshiva students. The High Court instructed the
Knesset to enact a law governing these deferrals within a
year.
Three requests for postponement of the deadline have since
been filed during the past two years. In the most recent
request, it was reported that the Knesset had set up a
special committee for enactment of the law (from the Tal
Committee). The committee presented the proposal, which
passed its first reading in the Knesset, and was then
returned to the committee for preparation for its second and
third readings. The committee, headed by Salah Tarif, saw
that the time which the High Court had allotted it was
insufficient. It then separated part of the law and prepared
a "temporary order" for a year, for presentation in the
Knesset in an accelerated procedure that would have merely
extended the current arrangements with legislative
sanction.
The petitioners claim that after the Knesset voted for early
elections, the committee chairman refused to continue
procedures to obtain Knesset approval for the temporary
order, claiming that he had lost his motivation, and linking
the deferral law to the vote on the law to dissolve the
Knesset. The committee chairman later agreed to present the
proposal to the Knesset the following week after being
approached by certain parties.
The petitioners are currently asking the High Court to grant
an additional extension in order to enable them to complete
legislative procedures, claiming that political factors
caused the hold-up in the completion of the original law for
final approval in its second and third readings. In the
event that it becomes evident that the Knesset is
procrastinating with respect to approval of the law, the
petitioners will once again seek the intervention of the
High Court, ordering the Knesset to complete approval of the
law.
The Office of the Prime Minister relates that Prime Minister
Barak has also decided to ask the Supreme Court for an
additional three-month extension for completion of the Draft
Deferral Law. Barak convened the upper echelons of the
defense establishment to discuss the possible drafting of
yeshiva students. Attending the meeting were the Chief of
Staff, members of the IDF Manpower Department, the
Prosecutor General and the representative of the Attorney
General.
