Sources in the Chareidi parties claim that Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, wants to drag Israel to elections, Arutz Sheva reported on Wednesday.

The report comes after the Rosh Yeshivah, HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, instructed the Degel HaTorah MKs on Wednesday morning to act to dissolve the Knesset after the negotiations on a Chareidi draft law with Edelstein on Tuesday evening failed.

“It cannot be said that Yuli Edelstein does not speak with a lot of logic to the average secular voter in that he demands a draconian law, but along the way he’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater, leading to the exit of the Chareidim from the coalition, elections, and a left-wing government,” a senior Shas official told Arutz Sheva.

A senior UTJ official also slammed Edelstein, saying that “he raised extreme and new demands yesterday compared to recent months – positions that put lomdei Torah in a worse position than Eritrean infiltrators. With such sanctions, how can we be partners with him?”

He elaborated that Edelstein is demanding to impose harsh personal sanctions even on bnei yeshivos who are not included in the draft quotes—including those who declare ‘תורתו אומנותו’—which constitutes a red line for the Chareidi sector.

Edelstein also refuses to include civilian service [such as service in the Israel Police or MDA] in the recruitment goals, demanding that only those who serve in combat roles or combat support roles be included in the conscription quotas.

“What exactly does Edelstein want?” the senior official questioned. “If he wants to recruit Chareidim, no one will enlist because there will be no law and there will be no Chareidi agreement around a formula of the kind he is proposing. If he wants to oust Binyamin Netanyahu, he should say it out loud.”

“At the end of the day, he knows very well that there is no world in which all yeshiva bochurim will leave their Gemaras and go to the battlefield. There is not one Chareidi Rav – even those who support Chareidi employment – who supports this.”

“The proposals he is offering are detached and unrealistic. What he’s doing is pushing the entire Chareidi leadership into a corner, uniting them into one position, and dismantling the government. That way there will be no law, there will be no Chareidi recruitment, there will be no government, and a left-wing government will be elected. And maybe that’s what he wants.”

Edelstein’s fellow Likud members are also angry at Edelstein’s refusal to compromise, Ynet reported. However, despite calls to oust him from his position as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, such a move is not on the table because it “would sully the legislative process” and would make the law more likely to be struck down by the Supreme Court.

However, according to the report, the Likud party is exploring other options to appease the Chareidim. A senior coalition official said that “despite the fact that the Chareidim are compromising again and again, Edelstein has decided to dismantle the government. He won’t pass the conscription law, and not a single Chareidi will be drafted, and he will also endanger us with the rise of a left-wing government in such a complex security period.”

A source close to Edelstein responded to the allegations against him, saying that “he has stuck to the same view for a year and a half and we have not changed anything in the principles of the law. He is determined to formulate a law that meets security needs. What is happening now is an attempt to introduce loopholes in our law, which really leads to recruitment. Edelstein’s law is logical, effective, and fair. It is possible to understand the Chareidi fear. This is a historical change, and change tends to be frightening, but this is the only law that will emerge from the committee.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)