The committee overseeing the development of the Conscription Bill met for the fifth time on Wednesday to discuss the change being proposed to the bill before it gets brought back to the Plenum for its second and third readings. During the meeting, members of the committee discovered that a central section referring to “The Goal” of the bill had been changed and had an insertion that said that the State of Israel recognizes Torah learning as a “value”.

The text now reads: “It is the goal of this section to solidify under the law set to instate the deferral of national service for yeshiva students who declare Torah as their occupation, under the idea that learning Torah is recognized as a value, and the further inclusion of Charedi graduates of yeshivos and educational systems into the work force.”

The original paragraph read: “The goal of this chapter is to limit the lack of equality that currently takes place in conscription for mandatory military and national civilian service while recognizing the importance of learning Torah.”

The change in text sparked outrage among numerous coalition parties including Kulanu and Yisroel Beiteinu. It also sparked the outrage of opposition party Yesh Atid, who has said that they support the original text of the bill even though they are in the opposition. MK Oded Forer from Yisroel Beiteinu who is a member of the committee said: “The changes that were seemingly made are unacceptable to Yisroel Beiteinu. We made this clear during the committee meeting. Therefore any publications that suggest that there is a consensus with regards to the changes made to the bill are incorrect.”

MK Elazar Stern from Yesh Atid said that should this paragraph be included in the bill that will be presented to the plenum, the party will withdraw its support for the bill.

MK Uri Maklev from Degel hatorah asked that the change is made and that the term “equality” be dropped from the bill completely. Maklev said during the meeting: “There has never been a paragraph that illustrated the goal of a proposed bill or law ever before. Even the High Court of Justice ignored it. It is important to note that the Defense Ministry who proposed the bill, brought this idea of a paragraph illustrating the goal of the bill.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)