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FM Liberman: “We’ll stay in the Government and Promote Equal Sharing of the Duty to Serve.”

Published on: July 3, 2012

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Army Radio that Yisrael Beytenu will not withdraw from the coalition because of the dissolution of the Plesner Committee. Minister Liberman said, ‘This is a historic opportunity. We will not compromise.”
Political tension is high in the wake of the dissolution of the Plesner Committee. But Minister Liberman has no regrets. “We will remain in the government and find an alternative solution. The conditions are ripe for drafting a law that divides the duty of service equally. We have a majority in the Knesset, and the media and the public want to see real progress on this issue. We will not compromise for the sake of a partial solution,’ said the Foreign Minister.
According to Minister Liberman neither should the Ultra-Orthodox or the Arab sector be exempt. “There’s no reason why a young Orthodox man should not volunteer in a hospital in his community, for example. There is no reason why young Arabs should not contribute to their communities in this way too,” he said. “There are hundreds of Arabs who serve in the police force for a salary. Why should volunteer service of that kind be anathema to them?”

According to Minister Liberman, many members of the Haredi community would like to join the army as a means to better employment options. But their rabbis oppose it because they do not want to lose the total control they have on their public. Liberman said that he supported personal sanctions against those who did not enlist.

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