Danny Yatom, a retired IDF major-general, retired director of the Mossad Intelligence Agency and retired Labor Party MK spoke to Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet about the Plesner Committee and ongoing efforts to “share the burden”.
Yatom stated “there can only be one law, and we must all be equal under that law”. He expressed surprise over objections to personal sanctions against chareidim who do not comply with a new draft law for he explained that a chiloni male of the age of 18 is faced with the option of entering the IDF or being placed in jail.
“Why does a chiloni go to jail yet when one speaks about locking up chareidim for the same offense there are objections”. Yatom added the new law must be all-encompassing, for all citizens of the state including chareidim and Arabs.
Yatom explained that the requirement to serve is at the essence of defining the character of the nation and its makeup and there cannot be different regulations for different sectors of the population.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Even if all the Chareidim were drafted, it is not as though Torah and learning would “stop” as some have said.
C”V there is a war, we still have hundreds…thousands!…that would still be learning– handicapped, the elderly, etc, as well as non-citizens in Israel to learn.
the same thing applies to Israeli arabs, yet no one is giving a stink about them
Why is this news?? That another Jewish person is r’l totally ignorant of the value of the words of the Torah and its gedolim..?? It that really something worthy of publicising ???
Chiloni kids who don’t want to serve get out of it quite easily. It’s simply not the case that they go to prison.
To Milhouse.
Chiloni or otherwise, Draft dodgers do go to prison – military prison, typically for a couple of months.
First, people do go to jail. I Know some folks who did for evading the draft. Second, does service in the army preclude a person from pursuing learning afterward? What’s wrong with working and learning? From what I experienced in growing up frum, the people that were deeply respected were the ones getting up at the earliest hours, learning, going to minyan, and putting in a full day’s work. That to me was living torah values. Meeting all responsibilities to family and community. Why shouldn’t it be the same in this case. Why do people think that doing service or work precludes them from a lifetime of learning?If this is all about fear that people will be exposed and ruined then we are all in danger all the time of becoming ruined no matter what community or how insulated we are. So instead of fear, let’s prepare. Let’s be proud to do necessary work.
#5, who’s talking about dodging? Charedim certainly don’t dodge the draft, and most chilonim who want out don’t dodge it either; they get out legally. The fact is that the number of chilonim who avoid conscription is equal to or greater than the number of Bnei Torah who do so.
#6, an 18-year-old bochur who is capable of learning full time, and most are for at least a year or two, belongs in front of the gemoroh, not anywhere else. He will never have such an opportunity again; soon he will get married and have to worry about supporting his family. And chances are high that he will lose the zitzfleish for full-time learning. So by sending him to the army now you are taking away his best learning years. אל תגעו במשיחי