On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he intends on setting into motion a new law that would include mandatory civilian national service for Israeli Arabs. The statement came after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened that a vote on a replacement to the Tal Law, which allows full-time yeshiva students to defer national service, would decide the date of Israel's elections. Lieberman advocated for a mandatory service law that would require the enlistment of the ultra-Orthodox, Israeli Arabs and all other Israeli citizens. Netanyahu met with representatives of the anti-Tal Law protest movement, called the "sucker's camp," and echoed the foreign minister's statements that there must be a new law that would require Israeli Arabs to perform national service. According to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu told the protesters that he intends on changing the distribution of the burden of service in Israel.
