With Yahadut Hatorah signaling it can live with the share the burden solution presented by Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon, Yesh Atid has responded negatively, explaining it will only accept its plan as explained to voters.
Ya’alon’s plan calls for a gradual increase in the chareidi draft, setting a goal of 6,000 in 2016. Ya’alon also rejects fines and imprisonment for draft evaders and remains opposed to setting a ceiling regarding the number of bnei Torah permitted to continue learning each year. Perhaps most pertinent is the fact the Ya’alon plan permits talmidim to learn until age 24, at which time they would have to enter the IDF.
Yesh Atid on the other hand gives a five-year hiatus period until the plan takes effect, but calls for the drafting of all chareidim who reach draft eligible age at that time. Yair Lapid’s plan permits a mere 400 talmidim to declare limud Torah as their full time profession annually, and he calls for fines and stern measures against draft dodgers.
Yesh Atid officials explained to Maariv that inducting chareidim at the age of 24 simply does not solve the problem since in the chareidi world, by that age, most are married with children so their military service would be minimal and costly.
Yesh Atid feels “you can’t have it both ways and one cannot address the share the burden issue while permitting a sector of the population to do as it wishes.”
“Senior Yesh Atid officials a are quoted by Maariv as explaining “we are not entering into negotiations with the chareidim. We are negotiating with the prime minister” Yesh Atid officials explained, adding the Ya’alon plan does not provide a solution in their eyes and they remain firm in their position regarding the drafting of chareidim.
Yesh Atid officials explain the Ya’alon plan is too expensive and it does not solve the problem so the only relevant solution in their eyes remains their plan.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
This is the beginning of the back & forth of negociations. Yaalon is a man with a strong backbone and following in the Likud party, so his word will not easily be ignored. There will be give & take, additions & subtractions, till some plan will go into effect IN FIVE YEARS FROM NOW.
He’s the one Hamas is counting on. He’s their best chance of getting a one-state solution under Islamic control.
The only way this issue will ever be resolved is for BOTH sides to compromise. Those who don’t agree with the Chareidi position that limud torah itself provide a form of national defense equivalent to active military service will nonethless have to allow for some deferrals for a small number of legitimate learners whose credentials have been endorse by gadolei yisroel. At the same time, the large percentage of Chareidi bochurim of draft age will have to register for the draft and be willing to serve for a year or two. That will not “empty the yeshivos” as some Chareidi politicans have screamed with no basis nor will it keep these bochurim from going back to their torah studies after military service.
If the yeshiva boys put in as rigorous of a schedule as the soldiers do, it would go far in convincing the not frum populace that the yeshiva boys are sharing the burden.
Also, why should yeshiva learning as national service be the domain of the charedim? When are the chilonim going to finally “share the burden” and start learning in yeshiva?!
Lapid: The minimum demand is that virtually all yeshiva students must interrupt their studies for three years, at age 18, and serve in the army. Any who refuse will be arrested. He’ll allow a handful of boys, presumably those with great yichus and protectsia, to be exempt.
There really isn’t room for compromise. Anti-zionists ones will engage in civil disobedience, and the non-zionist ones won’t want to be seen as “less frum” and will join. Even rabbanim who support the zionists (the ones in the “Gimel” and “Shas” parties) can’t agree to a plan that would virtually empty the yeshivos.
A compromise would include exemption for those who refuse (with no penalty more than loss of yeshiva stipends). An option might allow all yeshiovos to set up Hesder-type arrangments to allow boys to learn while being in the military. More frum units could be established. More provisions could be made to allow frum kids to serve in general units without harassment or discrimination. BUT LAPID DOESN’T WANT A COMPROMISE. HE WANTS TO DESTROY THE HAREIDI COMMUNITY. FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE, WE ARE THE ENEMY. THEY FEEL THAT WE ARE “unser Unglück!” .
If what they need are soldiers, they would offer incentives. If what they need are workers, they would mandate reasonable accomodation of our religious practices. What they want is a guarantee that Eretz Yisrael will remain a secular Jewish state where they can be “free from the yoke of Torah” , and this we can’t offer them.
Everyone should be drafted at 18 years of age and allowed for a deferment up to three years. Then, if they choose not to go to the army, they should be penalized with higher taxes, a reduction in national benefits, and limited opportunities. This should be temporary until age 24, at which time if they still choose not to go to the army the arrangement should be permanent. Everyone has a responsibility to protect the country, Everyone! The Torah is very important, and we should ensure that the true talmidei chachomim are compensated and make up the difference in their higher taxes, and reduced benefits.