The Yesh Atid party has been waging a new campaign recently, to prevent what they described as “the repeal of the ‘Sharing the Burden’ Law.” This campaign is intended, first and foremost, to make the party and its leader, Knesset member Yair Lapid, relevant yet again in setting the country’s political-media agenda. That is something Lapid has had difficulty doing from the opposition benches.
The reason for the current campaign is the fact that by law, the government must submit its budget for approval in the next two weeks. Once that happens, a public debate will ensue over the coalition’s proposal to repeal one of Yesh Atid’s most important achievements in the last government: imposing criminal sanctions against ultra-Orthodox men, who refuse to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) — and hence refuse to "share the burden" of military service. Repeal of the law is one of the commitments that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to the ultra-Orthodox parties, when he signed his coalition agreements with them last April.