Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan visited the Tel Aviv Central Train Station on Friday to show his support for the IDF reservists camping there in protest of the currently debated extension to the Tal Law, which exempts ultra-Orthodox youth from serving in the military. The reservists pitched a tent called "The Camp of Suckers" in the Central Train Station parking lot on Thursday and have protested in the area since. Protesters are comprised of The Israeli Forum for the Promotion of Equal Share of the Burden, the Common Denominator, and the Wakeup social movement. The reservists voiced their discontent that while they have to serve in the IDF until they are in their 40s, the ultra-Orthodox youth do not serve at all and moreover receive government stipends. During his visit to the protest tent, the former Mossad chief signed the petition against the Tal Law. "Now that the fight is going to a vote in the Knesset, we need to mark every MK that supports changing the status quo, so that there will be an equal sharing of the burden. We must pressure everyone who supports the current law," Dagan said. National Infrastructure Minister MK Uzi Landau and MK Moshe Matalon of Yisrael Beitenu came to the protest on Friday as well and vowed that their party will vote against the law. "Their fight is crucial and is one that applies to all layers of society and promotes the simple idea that in Israel, everyone needs to take part in the collective burden," Landau said. Chairman of the Yad Labanim organization, Eli Ben Shem, arrived accompanied by bereaved parents of fallen soldiers, as did head of the IDF Widows and Orphans organization, Gil Simenhaus. National student union leader Itzik Shmuli came with Israeli songwriter Haim Hefer to show their support for the cause. Hefer called on the prime minister "to cancel the Tal Law immediately and replace it with a law calling for equal service for all. I remember the soldiers of convoy 35 [a platoon of Jewish fighters during Israel's War of Independence who died attempting to resupply the Gush Etzion Kibbutzim], who were all students of the Torah but put their books down to go fight and save Gush Etzion." "We plan to put immense pressure on all Zionist party MKs to form a bloc that will deny an extension to the Tal Law in the Knesset; we expect all MKs that respect the laws of equality in this country to refuse extending the law," activist leader Idan Miller said. Another prominent member of the protest group, Boaz Nol, said that the group has tens of thousands of signatures of people who are against the extension. The Cabinet's decision to pass the vote to the Knesset is seen as "winning a battle, but not the war." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had initially voiced his intention to extend the law, decided instead to avoid a coalition crisis on Friday and not put the extension of the controversial law to a vote by the coalition, which is deadlocked on the issue, but rather to enact a general Knesset vote. Netanyahu wants to extend the law by more than one year (Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said he wants the law extended by only one year), but fewer than five years (the maximum sought by the ultra-Orthodox party, Shas). Netanyahu has been trying to reach a compromise that would bridge the gaps between all coalition parties. The decision to cancel next Sunday's Cabinet vote on the issue essentially prevented a coalition crisis with Yisrael Beitenu, headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which stridently opposes extending the law. The Tal Law was drafted to encourage young ultra-Orthodox men to enlist voluntarily, but it has patently failed to increase the amount of haredi men joining the army by any significant number. Barak has suggested extending the law, but only for one year, during which an adequate and more relevant alternative will be formulated. The defense minister said Thursday that he felt "this law has outlived its usefulness and does not provide a solution to the main problem it was established to address: an imbalance in the carrying of the burden." Barak added there should be 2,000-3,000 slots saved for "Torah prodigies" who will continue to study, but that the rest of the ultra-Orthodox youth would take part in serving and join the work force. Protesters staged a large protest outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem during the cabinet meeting on Sunday. Meanwhile hundreds of high school seniors throughout Israel organized events at their schools to show their support for the IDF reservists.
