Following the confrontation between Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon last week over the ultra-Orthodox draft, tensions flared again on Sunday when Ya'alon accused Lapid of spending too much effort on updating Facebook and not enough on getting things done. "You can't run a country from Facebook," Ya'alon, who is himself active on Twitter, said during a Likud party activists' conference in central Israel. Channel 2 aired a recording of his remarks on Sunday. An audience member at the closed conference had asked Ya'alon: "How long will he [Lapid] continue to control us? How long will we continue to bend to his will-" Ya'alon replied: "I don't bend, as you may have noticed. Anyone who thinks they can run people's lives, or a country, on Facebook, should know that it doesn't work." Ya'alon has 1,867 followers on Twitter and has tweeted 1,346 times, and also has an Instagram account. Lapid has a Twitter account, but it is not active and no tweets have been sent out from it. Lapid did not respond to Ya'alon's remarks. During the conference, Ya'alon also addressed the recommendations of the Peri Committee (headed by Yesh Atid minister Yaakov Peri) on drafting haredim to military and national service. "Last year, 1,500 haredim enlisted in the military without anyone declaring war and without anyone going to jail," he said, referring to the recommendation to jail haredim who fail to enlist. "I don't want to live in a Jewish country where I am taking yeshiva students away from Torah study and into jail," Ya'alon said. Another question from the audience revolved around the recently announced cuts in the defense budget and the possibility that military units would have to be shut down and that the reserves training would suffer. The audience member asked why the budget cut could not be made to the Israel Defense Forces radio station Galei Tzahal instead. "What's more important," the inquirer asked, "Razi Barkai [a prominent radio personality] on Galei Tzahal or a cut in the reserve forces? Why not make cuts to the Galei Tzahal stars as well-" Ya'alon replied: "Galei Tzahal is a sensitive subject and anything surrounding it goes to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. I am trying to ensure that the radio station won't be at the expense of the budget, but will be funded independently." Meanwhile, the Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday gave the Likud Party until the end of next month to hold its party convention, at which the convention president and the court president will be selected, thus determining the composition of the municipal committee. The party is expected to name MK Danny Danon convention president, unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to challenge him for the appointment.
