Arye Deri and Avigdor Liberman clash: IDF soldiers or yeshivah students - who's more important?
The leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party responded sharply to Shas leader Arye Deri's contention that yeshivah students are why Israel exists.


Yisrael Beytenu Avigdor Liberman responded sharply today (Tuesday) to Shas leader Arye Deri's contention that Israel exists thanks to the tens of thousands of Haredi yeshiva students.
According to Kikar HaShabbat, Deri is increasingly frustrated at the refusal to advance the Draft Law, which would legalize the draft exemption for tens of thousands of Haredi yeshiva students, instead of sending them draft notices and even arrest warrants.
Deri said that "It is the privilege of the Jewish people to have Torah scholars. We are fighting for this. Who would have dreamed that the holy Torah scholars who dedicate their lives would be considered criminals in the Jewish state? Who imagined we would reach a situation where Torah scholars would be in danger of going to jail?"
Responding to this on X, Liberman said that "the privilege of the Jewish People is that it has the IDF - soldiers who give their lives to protect the state and the nation. Without the IDF, there would be no Torah scholars and be no state."
Then, rebutting the idea that Judaism and service in the IDF cannot work together, he posted a picture of IDF soldiers reading the Torah, with the caption "there is no contradiction between Torah and the army."
The proposed draft law remains in limbo, as elements within Netanyahu's coalition, including the powerful Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuli Edelstein and members of the Religious Zionism party, object to the law proposal as too lenient, at a time when the IDF says that it needs 10,000 new soldiers to cope with the multiple threats to the country.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his proposal will include personal sanctions for those without formal draft exemptions and will lead to 50% of each draft-eligible Haredi cohort enlisting within seven years.
That said, Katz cautioned that trying to draft Haredim by force without the consent of their community and spiritual leadership would fail.