Israel Katz tries to sell skeptical Yuli Edelstein on draft law

Defense Minister Israel Katz is reportedly meeting at his Tel Aviv office with Likud MK Yuli Edelstein and Shas MK Ariel Atias to try and broker an agreement on a controversial draft law draft today (Thursday), according to Channel 13 News.

Edelstein, who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee which would have to approve any such law before it is voted on by the whole Knesset, has repeatedly expressed his opposition to a number of aspects of the proposed draft.

On the other hand, both Haredi parties - UTJ and Shas - have increasingly expressed their frustration at the failure to pass such a bill, and have now made it clear that they will not vote to pass any major bill of the coalition's until a draft law is passed first.

Katz himself has rejected the idea that his law proposal - which gradually increases the number of Haredim who are drafted into the IDF until it reaches 50% of each cohort within seven years - is a "draft dodging law" according to many opponents in the opposition.

The Defense Minister said that the law is a historic opportunity to draft unprecedented numbers of Haredim into the IDF, while the approach of force only has had the opposite effect thus far on recruitment numbers.