Likud MK Boaz Bismuth was elected by the Likud party on Wednesday evening to the prestigious position of the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Twenty-nine party members voted for Bismuth, and only four voted for the current chairman, Yuli Edelstein. The elections were held due to Edelstein’s retraction of agreements reached with the Chareidi MKs on the Chareidi draft law and his unwillingness to advance a law to regulate the status of lomdei Torah.

MK Bismuth stated: “I thank my colleagues in the Likud party and the prime mnister for their trust. I see my role as a national mission of the highest order. The Torah brought me here, and the army keeps me here. The draft law is at home with me, my daughter, a soldier with a red beret, and my son with tzitzit and a kippah who will study in yeshiva. Army and Torah, this combination is so beautiful together. I am proud of both of them. It is possible to combine the two. Hand in hand. One strengthens the other. The draft law is a national matter—not a political matter. The entire Am Yisrael for the entire Am Yisrael.”

The position was originally slated for Likud MK Chanoch Milvitzky, but according to media reports, the Chareidi MKs demanded earlier on Wednesday that Bismuth receive the position, as part of a move led by Shas.

Ynet quoted a Chareidi source as saying that Mivitzky was not knowledgeable enough on the subject, and Chareidi MKs held a dialogue with Bismuth and were convinced that he’s the right man for the job.

According to Ynet, this is a surprising move since Bismuth is also supported by more liberal Likud MKs who are opposed to granting mass army exemptions to bnei yeshivos.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to the demand and instead gave Milvitzky the temporary position of chairman of the Finance Committee, which has been vacant since the UTJ party left the government.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)