Well, the final coalition agreement on drafting Chareidim has been signed and sealed and it is worse than anticipated.
As agreed upon by Netanyahu and written into the coalition agreement by Yesh Atid MK Shelah, “the state would focus on increasing the number of Haredi men in the IDF, particularly in combat roles, starting at as young an age as possible. It also gives the IDF first right of refusal of a potential inductee. The army, not the yeshiva student, would decide whether he goes to the military or to the civilian national service.”
So, in fact, civilian service is NOT an option for yeshiva students (unless the IDF decides it has enough yeshiva talmidim drafted and it at its own discretion decides to allow a specific yeshiva bochor do civilian service rather than army service.) And the proposed law states that 2/3 of Chareidim serving must be in the army and not in civilian service.
Furthermore, out of 12,000 18 year-old bochorim each year who currently go to yeshiva, the new proposed law will only allow 1,800 go to yeshiva while forcibly drafting the remaining 10,200 18 year-old yeshiva bochorim who otherwise wished to go to yeshiva.
Who will get to choose who the “lucky” 1,800 are and who the unlucky 10,200 are is anyones guess. Will the government give more exemptions to yeshivas it favors and less exemptions to yeshivas it disfavors? Most likely. A Cantonist Russian system comes to mind and the forced conscription of the poor for the benefit of the rich.
Oh, and in terms of civilian service, “Shelah’s plan emphasizes positions in security and rescue services such as the police, fire departments and the ZAKA disaster victim identification unit. It does not focus on community service, which Shelah sees as having little benefit.” So claims that civilian service (for the few the army even allows to choose civilian service rather than being forcibly drafted) will include Bikur Cholim type service is wholly incorrect.
And regarding the Arab citizens of Israel? They remain completely exempt of any mandatory service or conscription. Arab citizens are treated better by the State than Chareidi citizens. The discrimination is glaring.