Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have backtracked on parts of his proposed Charedi enlistment law. According to Hebrew-language news reports, the government has decided to remove a clause raising the exemption age for yeshiva students to 35.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had warned that she would be unable to defend the proposed bill, while Finance Ministry figures showed the economy taking a hit of over NIS 100 billion ($27.5 billion) over the next decade if the army extended the time recruits must serve rather than draft Charedim into the military.
A new version of the proposal containing provisions for financial sanctions and possibly specific annual enlistment goals is expected to be distributed to cabinet members on Monday. Opposition Leader Yair Lapid has accused the government of engaging in “fraud” and hiding the fact that the law includes no conscription obligation or financial sanctions, and that not a single Charedi person will enlist.
Lapid has called on War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz to pull his National Unity party out of the government if the draft law is approved by the cabinet this week, while Gantz has threatened to bolt the coalition if the legislation becomes law, calling it a “red line” and “a threat to national cohesion.”
“If the conscription law passes [in the cabinet] on Tuesday, Gantz and [minister Gadi] Eisenkot should leave the government,” Lapid told the Kan public broadcaster. “They’re playing with Israel’s security. It’s not just an ideological discussion anymore…It’s a security disaster. There are not enough soldiers, the army is stretched to the limit. There are more soldiers in the West Bank than in Gaza at the moment, the actual war is not going on right now.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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There should be no exemption at all. Instead limud hatorah should be recognized as a form of military service. Once that is done all charedi young men should be required to enlist just like everyone else, and the IDF will decide who has the aptitude to be a tank driver, a truck driver, a kitchen worker, a computer worker, a “journalist”, or a talmid chochom. Those found to have an aptitude for learning should be assigned to sit in yeshiva and learn Torah in uniform, under military discipline. A minute late for seder should be treated like a minute late for any other military duty. Once they’ve put in their required years of service in the yeshiva they should have the same benefits as any veteran, and should be free to get jobs to support their families, if they aren’t cut out for a kollel life or can’t afford one. And those who refuse to learn in uniform because of their anti-zionism should lose their citizenship, as should chilonim and Arabs who refuse to serve. They should also be put in cherem.