The admorim who make up the Moetzas Gedolei Yisrael of Agudas Yisrael are scheduled to convene on Tuesday, 13 Shevat 5774. The rebbes are likely to decided on the nussach of a public statement against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The meeting will be the first of the rebbes shlita since the decision to cancel the planned public relations mission to the United States. In response to what appears to be the imminent passing of a new chareidi draft law, the admorim are expected to release a strong statement against the prime minister and the coalition. The admorim in recent months have made repeated calls to the coalition members to refrain from their plans to compel bnei yeshivos to leave beis medrash to serve in the IDF.
The admorim had planned to bring their case to the chareidi tzibur and US elected officials in the hope of pressuring the Netanyahu administration but the effort was canceled.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
The chraridei people in the US are tired of all the boys walking the streets and not leaning they should to the army may be they will learn some thing is that what the rabbis are afraid?
Its all plain talk nothing to it u r part of the government taking money in the כנסת המינם so join them
No one expects otherwise. That they are sending letters means they are deliberately doing nothing at this time. It’s the government move, and they are waiting to see what it is. The real questions are what are they considering proposing, such as:
1. Refuse outright and dare the government to arrest them
2. Refuse to accept government subsidies for yeshiovos
3. Propose an end to conscription
4. Adopt an ideological position similar to the Eidah hareidis and ask to be treated as conscientious objectors (from an international law perspective) and as traitors (from a zionist perspective)
The latter two could involve seeking allies within and without the Israeli political system, as it isn’t only hareidim who oppose conscript service.
As it appears that many non-hareidi zionists (especially Bayit Yehudi) are getting uncomfortable with the “war on the yeshiovs”, a compromise is likely. Compromises could involve no penal sanctions for refusing military service, ending government funding of non-zionist yeshiovos, and the government offering subsidies specifically for those who do serve in the military (for use after the army, or through various hesder-like programs).