Coalition Chairman MK (Likud) Yariv Levin calls the Peri Committee draft law a “bluff”. Speaking with Channel 10 News, Levin stated “This is not sharing the burden but a bluff. They are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. This is an anti-chareidi campaign and not a share the burden campaign.”
Levin explained that in his eyes, equality means the same responsibility for all citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, and not just directing share the burden efforts at a particular sector.
He feels that even if Muslim Arabs should be entitled to special consideration, the Christian Arabs should be drafted and in the case of the latter, many wish to serve. He adds that efforts to extend military service for hesder yeshiva talmidim represents a violation of coalition agreements.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
whats the chiddush?
1. It is not in Likud’s arms to push the Hareidim into an alliance with their enemies. A block including Likud, the Hareidim and the Religious Zionists is virtually assured control of the kenesset.
2. They might get more and better soldiers if they abolished conscription and paid soldiers a living wage. That has been the experience of all the other industrialized countries. Abolishing conscription would also induce a large number of hareidim who are nominally in yeshiva past the normal age for Baal ha-baatim to be in yeshiva to officially take jobs in the “official” economy.
3. Attempting to conscript yeshiva students will needless alienate hareidim, cost a fortune (since soldiers cost more to maintain than the pittance they gave yeshiva students in subsidies), and weaken the ability of the army to function (due to including many hostile soldiers and engendering the first widespread draft resistance in Israeli history).