"Draft evasion poses a threat to Israel's security," Bennett pledges security cabinet ban on draft dodgers
Bennett said combat troops are giving up captured positions because no one is there to hold them. He said they later return to retake the ground, at a cost in blood
Former PM Naftali Bennett spoke before the ICT World Summit on Counterterrorism in Herzliya on Tuesday, stating that Israel cannot be made secure without eradicating Hamas. Bennett said his previous government changed the equation on Gaza and accused the Netanyahu government of having tolerated tens of thousands of rockets and incendiary balloons.
"In the next government, we will achieve a decisive victory and restore quiet and security for the people of Israel," the former PM explained. He argued that a decisive outcome requires reinforcements for soldiers and called out Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, Religious Zionist party leader Bezalel Smotrich, and Likud party leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of continuing to encourage and fund mass draft evasion.
"Who will fight? Who will secure victory?" Bennett asked rhetorically.
Bennett said, "Draft evasion poses a strategic threat to Israel's security." According to Bennett, the IDF reports an immediate shortage of 20,000 combat soldiers and the shortage is costing soldiers' lives and preventing victory over the enemy.
The former prime minister described the toll on the ground. Soldiers are being wounded and killed by drones because there are not enough lookouts and snipers to protect them, he explained. Combat troops are having to give up already-capture dpositions because there are not enough troops to hold it and then are forced retake the same ground "at a cost in blood," Bennett said.
Ultimately, Bennett pledged to enforce mandatory conscription for everyone, without compromise, and to cut off all funding for draft dodgers. "Anyone who does not enlist will not receive a single shekel from the state," he said. The B'Yachad party leader said the "Deri Law," is one of the fundamental conditions for the next government. The law would bar anyone who evaded IDF service, or encouraged draft evasion, from the security cabinet.
"With us, a draft dodger will not sit in the security cabinet," Bennett said. He rejected a situation in which someone who boasts about not sending his own grandchildren into battle is the one sending other people's sons and daughters to fight.