Opposition Leader Yair Lapid urged lawmakers to pass the Charedi draft bill quickly, warning that “people will die” if the army is not given the tools it needs. Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Lapid emphasized that “we are in an emergency” and that the current situation, with tens of thousands of young people exempt from conscription, is “impossible” on both ethical and operational levels. Lapid’s remarks came during a debate over the Charedi draft bill, just a week after it was passed by the Knesset plenum. He noted that 16 IDF soldiers have already been killed in the past week, and that Hamas and Hezbollah “want to kill us all” and do not differentiate between chiloni, daati, and Charedi citizens. “We all need to mobilize to defend ourselves,” Lapid declared, calling for a “pointed and substantive discussion” leading to a bill that does not discriminate “between blood and blood.” “The army needs the soldiers now,” Lapid concluded. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)