Yitzchok Goldknopf, the head of the United Torah Judaism party, formally resigned from his role as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, citing the government’s failure to make progress on a bill that would exempt yeshiva students from mandatory military service.
This resignation is more symbolic than substantive, as Goldknopf retains his position as the minister for housing and construction, ensuring his continued presence in Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s cabinet.
The resignation followed significant public backlash after a video emerged on Sunday showing Goldknopf dancing to an anti-Zionist, anti-enlistment song at his nephew’s wedding, prompting calls for his removal from both coalition and opposition figures. However, this resignation was not directly related to the video incident.
Goldknopf communicated his resignation to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, explaining that he had initially accepted the PMO position based on the guidance of his rabbis, who saw it as a “guarantee for advancing the law regulating the status of Torah scholars.”
“Last night, the leadership of the United Torah Judaism faction, our teachers and rabbis, met and took upon themselves the responsibility for continuing to advance the issue. In light of this, I return the guarantee and hereby submit my resignation from the position of minister in the Prime Minister’s Office,” he wrote.
Earlier, Goldknopf and other members of the Agudas Yisrael faction had warned that they would vote against the state budget unless the conscription issue was addressed first, threatening to bring down the government if their demands were not met.
Currently, a bill regarding chareidi IDF service is stalled in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which is chaired by Likud MK Yuli Edelstein. Edelstein has stated that the needs of the IDF should take priority and that the committee would only advance the legislation if it adequately addressed those needs.
Despite his previous threats, Goldknopf lost his leverage after the far-right Otzma Yehudit party rejoined the government. As a result, he backed down, and his faction’s MKs voted in favor of the Economic Arrangements Law last Thursday.
At the time, Matzav.com reported that the Gerer Rebbe had instructed Goldknopf to endorse an alternative plan to pressure Netanyahu, which was put forward by Degel Hatorah.
This plan involved the entire UTJ party threatening to withdraw from the government unless the exemption bill passed within three months.
To avert such a drastic move, Netanyahu reportedly reached out to gedolim on Sunday. He contacted Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and the Belzer Rebbe.
As Matzav reported, Netanyahu told the rebbe and Rav Hirsch that a law regulating enlistment could not be passed in such a short time frame.
Following their discussions, the rebbe and Rav Hirsch met at Rav Dov Landau’s home in Bnei Brak to discuss the next steps for the party.
A ruling by the High Court of Justice last year concluded that there is no legal foundation for the longstanding blanket exemption from military service for chareidi yeshiva students. Since then, the chareidi parties, which are crucial to Netanyahu’s coalition and majority in the Knesset, have pushed for legislation to establish some form of exemption.
{Matzav.com}The post MK Goldknopf Symbolically ‘Resigns’ From Role In PMO Amid Battle Over Chareidi Draft first appeared on Matzav.com.