Ofer Winter, the right-wing ex-general who last week entered the political arena, vowed on Wednesday that his new party will not join a coalition government unless a universal conscription law is passed first.
“We will not enter a government that does not pass, before its establishment, a law that puts an end to draft evasion and requires everyone to present themselves and contribute,” he said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
“If that doesn’t happen, we won’t be in the government, and that’s that. Every young person of service age will present themselves to the state. No group is above the law,” he said.
The statement referred to ultra-Orthodox demands to enshrine blanket conscription exemptions long afforded to the community.
Winter said last week that his People of Israel party will only recommend Benjamin Netanyahu continuing as prime minister, a position he repeated in his speech. But Netanyahu’s Likud party governed for most of the past four years in a coalition with two ultra-Orthodox factions that staunchly oppose universal conscription. That coalition passed legislation designed to facilitate ongoing ultra-Orthodox exemption from service, and sought to pass a law explicitly maintaining this exclusion.
