Israel’s Netanyahu accuses defence minister of destabilising gov’t

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has accused Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of endangering the government’s stability because he did not submit a new draft bill to the Knesset that exempts ultra-Orthodox Jews from army service, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported yesterday.

“If you do not present a decision to the government by Sunday regarding the Knesset vote on the army service bill, you are endangering its stability,” Netanyahu reportedly told Gallant.

Gallant had asked “for a few more days to reach an understanding” with war cabinet minister and leader of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, who opposes the bill.

Last week, Gallant announced that he would not submit the new draft bill, which exempts ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service, to a vote in the Knesset as long as there is no consensus in the government and the war cabinet about it.

Gantz opposes the draft bill and demands all segments of Israeli society participate in compulsory military service.

However, Netanyahu had agreed with the religious parties who are members of his governing coalition that he would approve the bill.

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The disagreements come after the Chief Rabbi of Sephardic Jews, Yitzhak Yosef, caused an uproar earlier this week when he said during a religious sermon that if compulsory service was imposed on Haredi Jews, they would leave Israel.

“All these secularists must understand that without the Torah and the religious school, the army would not have succeeded,” he said.

The disagreements also come at a critical time for the Israeli prime minister who has been facing widespread criticism both at home and abroad as a result of the genocidal war he has waged on Palestinians in Gaza.