United Torah Judaism has set two core conditions for joining a coalition led by the so-called change bloc, Kikar HaShabbat reported, citing details of the ongoing contacts between the chareidi party and the bloc's leaders over the possible formation of a government.
According to the report, the first demand concerns the immediate legal situation of yeshiva students. UTJ wants the Knesset to pass a law halting their arrests before the new government is even sworn in.
To ensure the legislation survives review by the High Court of Justice and is not struck down, as the "Deri law" was on the eve of the elections, the party and the bloc are reportedly drafting a broader legal framework. Under that framework, the proposed law would not apply only to yeshiva students but would cover all deserters equally, chareidi and secular alike. It would be defined as a temporary provision for a transition period until a full draft law is passed and the status of yeshiva students is settled. Those drafting the framework believe that because it is a temporary arrangement leading to a law that will include enlistment targets, it will not meet firm opposition from senior IDF officials and can move forward.
The second demand concerns securing a long-term arrangement for yeshiva students. UTJ's leaders recognize that, for technical and legal reasons, a full and complex draft law cannot be completed before a government is formed. They are therefore demanding an agreed text of the draft law that carries the blessing and approval of the members of the Councils of Torah Sages, the rabbinic bodies that guide the party's factions.
Under the demand, the change bloc's leaders would have to sign an explicit commitment that the text is acceptable to them and that they will pass it in its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum before the new government's first state budget is approved.
The demands come amid accelerating political contacts behind the scenes. As Channel 12 News reporter Dafna Liel reported, UTJ chairman MK Yaakov Asher held a first secret negotiating meeting last week with MK Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party. That meeting took place alongside another significant meeting between Asher and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman, part of an effort to examine whether political cooperation between the sides is feasible.
