While the Tal Law is gone and a new law is yet to be passed in Knesset, some Israelis are not sitting back and waiting, but acting, albeit not in the interest of the yeshiva community.
A total of 464 reserve duty IDF officers signed on the petition to the High Court of Justice. Major-General (reserves) Amram Mitzne was among them, along with 13 colonels and 27 lt.-colonels, junior officers, soldiers and civilians prior to enlisting have decided to act towards advancing their agenda, the “sharing the burden” agenda that calls upon all Israelis to serve in the IDF or a state-approved national service.
According to the petition filed with the High Court of Justice, they feel Defense Minister Ehud Barak is not taking the court’s decision to abolish the Tal Law and draft chareidim seriously, and they are calling upon the court to compel Barak to act, to draft the tens of thousands of chareidim currently occupying the benches of yeshivos around the country.
Mitzne is also a former Haifa mayor as well as a former head of the Labor Party. He and his military colleagues feel their suit will send a message to the nation’s highest court, carrying the weight of officers who dedicated their lives to the defense of the country. The petitioners are calling on the court to instruct the defense minister to draft the avreichim and to stop procrastinating. They feel that Barak’s nonfeasance is tantamount to contempt of court, adding as far back as 1998, the court ruled the defense minister does not have the authority to grant deferments from service to yeshiva students.
The petitioners are also calling upon the court to issue a temporary order prohibiting the military from granting any deferments to talmidei yeshiva until the court decides on the petitions addressing the chareidi draft, and there are several.
Regarding another Tal related petition, Justice Edna Arbel on Tuesday 24 Elul set a hearing date for November 2012. That petition was filed by a number of organizations, including Hiddush, calling for the drafting of 54,000 avreichim currently in yeshivos.
Addressing a financial forum this week, former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gabi Ashkenazi stated all citizens must serve in the IDF, adding “we must move from an obligation to serve to an obligatory service”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Eventually there will have to be a discussion of this issue among the Charedei parties and representatives in the Knesset. Just to ignore the legal aspects and pray that it disappears does not seem to be the ‘gezar din’.
why are they so into the chareidim, what about the arabs who are a bigger # than the frum ppl. How come none of this organizations asks about them?
“Sharing the burden” in this case would mean less days annually in miluyim for the reservists. That’s not an unreasonable concern for anyone in the reserves.