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.

Over the past few days, Yesh Atid has been trying to stir up a media storm and political brawl over the government’s plan to change the law, even though such a change should have been anticipated ever since the current coalition was formed. As part of its campaign to enlist public support, the party recruited the “Forum of the Struggle to Share the Burden” organization. On Nov. 4, an emergency meeting took place in the Knesset, with the participation of Yesh Atid and organizations working to promote drafting the ultra-Orthodox. In their discussions, it was decided to put up a protest tent outside the office of Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon from Nov. 10 onward. The motto of that tent will be “Brothers in Arms.”

As usual, Lapid honed his message and became the first to fire on this battle’s political front, targeting both the prime minister and the defense minister. He opened a Facebook post on Wednesday by saying, “Netanyahu, Bogie [Ya’alon], [Naftali] Bennett, [Ayelet] Shaked, [Yoav] Galant and [Moshe] Kahlon, will you really vote against soldiers serving in the IDF? Will you really repeal the 'Sharing the Burden' Law for cynical political reasons?” Ever since the last March 17 elections, Lapid has been trying to get closer to the ultra-Orthodox as part of his strategy to win the prime minister’s office. That is why he is focusing his campaign on Netanyahu, Ya’alon and Finance Minister Kahlon, and not on the ultra-Orthodox parties, as he did in the previous government.