(Adnkronos) – Israeli ultra-Orthodox parties will continue to abstain from voting on the government coalition’s legislative proposals, in protest against the lack of progress on the law on exemption from military service for members of their communities. This was reported by the Ynet website, citing statements by ultra-Orthodox Knesset members.
Both Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) – both ultra-Orthodox parties – had already announced their intention to boycott the votes during last Wednesday’s Knesset session, to protest the issue of compulsory military service, from which the most observant Jews (Haredi) are traditionally exempt. Yaakov Asher, a UTJ member, in an interview for the Kikar HaShabbat website, warned that if the law is not passed by July 27, his party will no longer be part of the government.
Following the announcement, several coalition bills were removed from the parliamentary agenda.
