Israel's Netanyahu faces coalition crisis

[July 03, 2012]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- A fierce debate over how to draft religious men into the Israeli military has sparked the first crisis in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's newly expanded coalition government.

The government is racing to draw up a new draft law ahead of a court-ordered Aug. 1 deadline. The Supreme Court has ruled the current system, which exempts ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service, is illegal.

On Monday, Netanyahu disbanded a parliamentary committee working on a new draft law due to deep disagreements among its members. Ultra-Orthodox parties oppose any change in the current system.

Netanyahu's decision led his largest coalition partner, Kadima, to threaten to leave the government. Kadima only joined the coalition in May with the goal of reforming the current draft system.

Kadima's leader, Shaul Mofaz, angrily accused Netanyahu of breaking agreements that had drawn him into the government.

He said that the disbanded committee, led by a Kadima lawmaker, would still issue its recommendations this week, and that if Netanyahu did not take the "necessary step" of using the report as the basis for a new draft system, "the national unity government will come to an end."

An Israeli official said that Netanyahu was working behind the scenes to resolve the standoff. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media, said Netanyahu planned a series of meetings with coalition partners this week in search of a solution.

He said Netanyahu remains committed to key principles worked out with Kadima: Ensuring that all sectors of Israeli society perform national service; making sure that changes are implemented gradually; and maintaining national unity.

The issue of draft exemptions is among the most divisive in Israeli society.

Under a longstanding system, Israel allows ultra-Orthodox males to skip otherwise mandatory military service in order to pursue religious studies. These exemptions, initially reserved for several hundred religious scholars, have ballooned and now apply to tens of thousands of religious men of military age.

The exemptions have bred widespread resentment among Israel's secular majority, which argues that it is bearing an unfair burden.

The disbanded committee had also been looking for ways to get Israel's Arab minority to do a civilian national service.

Israeli Arabs are not required to serve in the military, but the panel had aimed to incorporate Arabs into a civilian alternative in its goal to bring about more equality. Two committee members had resigned in recent days after concluding that the panel was backing down on forcing Arabs into national service.

[Associated Press; By JOSEF FEDERMAN]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.