Change Bloc Weighs Chareidi Draft Freeze for UTJ

The change bloc led by Yashar! chairman Gadi Eisenkot is weighing an offer to freeze enforcement of the chareidi draft, including arrests of deserters, for up to a year in a bid to win United Torah Judaism's support or abstention for a new government, Ynet's Amir Ettinger reported on Thursday evening.

The initiative follows Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman's decision to lift his veto. Because a draft law cannot be passed before a new government is sworn in, the bloc's central idea is a commitment that the freeze would take effect immediately after the government is formed. During that interim period, the sides would work out an agreed draft law built on an improved version of Liberman's 2018 framework.

Kikar HaShabbat reported that UTJ chairman MK Yaakov Asher and Liberman held their first significant meeting this week, focusing on the draft law and the possibility of reaching an agreed framework. The talks centered on a plan that could win the approval of Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Lando and also withstand review by the High Court of Justice.

In an interview with Kikar HaShabbat this week, Asher set out three core preconditions for any negotiations: a draft law that regulates the status of yeshiva students, funding for chareidi education without conditions on core curriculum studies, and preservation of the status quo on matters of religion and state.

Liberman has said on several occasions that he wants a draft law that can pass muster with both Rabbi Lando and the High Court justices. According to a comparison by Kikar HaShabbat, the 2018 "Liberman law" is considered far softer and more favorable to the chareidi public than the "Bismuth law" advanced in the outgoing Knesset.

Significant obstacles remain. According to the reports, chareidi leaders are wary of relying on promises alone. The High Court has previously ruled that the government lacks the authority to freeze draft enforcement through a cabinet decision. Legislation freezing arrests for the entire population would, for its part, face opposition from the IDF, which argues that enforcement and arrests are essential tools for implementing the Security Service Law.

Any lenient law of the kind the chareidi parties are seeking is expected to meet resistance from the Knesset's legal adviser, the Constitution Committee and the High Court. Even so, officials in the change bloc believe the chareidim have no better alternative, and that a year free of enforcement would be seen as a significant achievement for Asher.

The working assumption, according to the reports, is that Aryeh Deri's Shas would remain outside such a government. If only UTJ cooperates, the coalition would also need Ra'am to abstain, a scenario Liberman has said he would oppose despite his desire to replace Netanyahu's government.

Kikar HaShabbat has also reported that an ongoing channel of communication recently opened between the heads of the Arab parties, Ra'am and the Joint List, and senior UTJ figures. The two sides regularly update each other on developments in their separate negotiations with the change bloc.

Photo: Yonatan Sindel, Chaim Goldberg/Flash90

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working with Deri and Asher to block the move. He is warning UTJ that once such a government is formed, the party would be unable to bring it down if its demands go unmet, because the Arab parties would provide it with a safety net.

Meanwhile, MK Meir Porush submitted two bills this week to regulate the status of yeshiva students. One would set a permanent deferral until age 26, and the other would freeze arrests for a year. MK Elyakim Stark joined the bills as a co-sponsor.