Haaretz journalist Ravit Hecht said this week that drafting chareidim into the IDF is the “least important” goal for the opposition, compared with removing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
Hecht made the remarks on the Haaretz political podcast “Holchim LeBechirot” (Going to Elections), which she co-hosts with Amnon Harari, in an episode recorded after Tuesday’s election, in which neither bloc won a majority.
During the discussion, Harari raised the possibility of a coalition that would include the chareidi parties, which he said would join if their concerns over the draft were addressed. He called such a government, with apologies, a “dream government,” despite the opposition having campaigned on what it called the “covenant of those who serve.”
Harari acknowledged the problem: The parties of Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman all ran on drafting chareidim and the podcast itself had argued repeatedly that the issue was driving voters.
Even so, he argued that if there was one campaign promise those parties’ supporters would forgive, it would be giving up on the draft in exchange for ousting Netanyahu.
The hosts then weighed the opposition’s priorities: removing Netanyahu, ousting what they called “the Kahanists,” and halting what they described as the destruction of democracy and society, against drafting chareidim.
“For me personally, drafting chareidim is the least important,” Hecht said.
