Agudas Yisrael MK Meir Porush on Monday participated in a stormy discussion in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the new Chareidi draft bill and leveled harsh accusations against both opponents of the law and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

During the discussion, opposition members and some coalition members [from Likud and Religious Zionism] expressed fierce opposition to the law, claiming that it doesn’t call for sufficiently strict sanctions and will not lead to a significant increase in Chareidi recruits.

At least eight coalition members said that they plan on voting against the bill.

It should be noted that the Agudas Yisrael party has also expressed its opposition to the bill. Furthermore, even if the bill passes, it will almost certainly be rejected by the Supreme Court

Meanwhile, Porush called for a complete revocation of the bill for different reasons. “I am proud to represent lomdei Torah, even though it is difficult for me to listen here to the words of mockery and scorn toward lomdei Torah,” he said.

“Yesterday I saw data from the Knesset Research and Information Center about many Bedouins who don’t enlist, religious Druze, and others. But under pressure from the Attorney General, the proposed law will only harm lomdei Torah [via sanctions]—this in a country under Jewish rule.”

“Like [Chaim] Herzog, z’l, at the UN, I think we should tear up the proposals that harm Torah.”

Porush was referring to a UN General Assembly session in 1975, when Herzog tore up a resolution equating Zionism with colonialism and South African apartheid and determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

Opposition representatives in the discussion responded, “On that point we agree—the draft law proposal needs to be torn up.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)