UTJ’s Eichler Appointed Deputy Communications Minister to Influence Draft Vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is moving United Torah Judaism MK Yisrael Eichler out of the Knesset under the Norwegian Law, clearing the way for a pro-draft vote on the contentious conscription bill.

UTJ’s Eichler Appointed Deputy Communications Minister to Influence Draft Vote

United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Yisrael Eichler is set to be appointed Deputy Communications Minister in a strategic move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that will remove him from the Knesset and prevent him from voting against the government’s contentious conscription bill for yeshiva bachurim. The appointment, expected to be approved by ministers, comes under Israel’s “Norwegian law,” under which a ministerial appointment requires Eichler to resign his parliamentary seat. This change allows former UTJ MK Yitzhak Pindrus, who supports the draft measure, to reenter the Knesset and bolster its passage.

Eichler, a member of Agudas Yisrael within UTJ, has opposed the current form of the draft regulation bill, while Pindrus from Degel Hatorah supports it. The reshuffle is aimed at ensuring a majority for the law that has divided Israeli politics and society over the issue of military exemptions for yeshiva bachurim.