FALCON POWERS – Soldiers in the occupation reserve force told the Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has stabbed them in the back by passing a law exempting ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) soldiers from military service in the Israeli occupation army.
The soldiers stated in their interview with the newspaper that they feel betrayed by a government that is mobilizing for its political survival instead of mobilizing for the tough war in the Gaza Strip.
They also described the new law as a scandal that increases the rift and isolation between those who bear the burden of defending Israel and those who evade it.
The Knesset voted on Monday to pass the new conscription law proposed by the Prime Minister of the Occupation, Benjamin Netanyahu, which aims to continue the exemption of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews from military service.
Hebrew media reported that Netanyahu was considering turning the vote on the law to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into a vote of confidence in the government, to prevent Gallant from voting against the law.
The Occupation’s Minister of War, Yoav Gallant, voted against the conscription law in its current form, after previously expressing opposition to the law in its current form and announcing that he would not support it without an agreement between the government’s factions.
In response to the passage of the law, the leader of the opposition in the Occupation state, Yair Lapid, said that “in the midst of the fighting in Gaza, the government is passing a law that supports the refusal of military service for political reasons.”
Previously, the Chief of Staff of the Occupation Army, Herzi Halevi, had warned the political leadership of the severe shortage of manpower within the Israeli occupation army to achieve the required objectives.
Hebrew Channel 12 reported that Halevi informed the political leadership that the army needs 15 new battalions, the size of a military division of 4,500 soldiers, in order to be able to carry out its tasks on multiple fronts.
