As a government official you want to have as many people on your side as possible. The problem is when you have too many people under one tent, it’s hard to please everyone under your roof. Such is the problem for Netanyahu with the drafting of new enlistment laws, an issue being covered extensively in Jewish news outlets.
While the religious part of the Netanyahu coalition want to continue exemptions for the ultra-religious, the more centrist and secular parties, who are new members to the collation, are saying they will walk away from the table if more religious Jews and Arabs are not drafted into national service. This has put Netanyahu in a bind with popular support and his new collation members seeking a change in the law while the diehard base of his coalition wants to keep religious exemption in place.
People had long suspected that Netanyahu’s increasingly diverse collation would experience some level of infighting. When the Tal Law (enlistment law) was struck down by Israel’s Supreme Court the stage was set for a battle. So where does Netanyahu go from here? Its unclear. He has spoken a lot recently about putting the ‘burden of service’ on all citizens equally but has not offered much in terms of a concrete solution. As of now he situation remains tense. Jewish news outlets will continue covering the story until a solution is agreed upon.
