Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked, who heads the committee finalizing the chareidi draft law, spoke with Arutz-7. During a recent session of the committee earlier this week, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon expressed stern opposition to “drastic enforcement” of the new law, warning that doing so would result in widespread chareidi opposition and a community-wide refusal to cooperate. Shaked signaled she has shifted and today tends to agree with Ya’alon.
She told Arutz-7 she now believes most of the committee members want the new law to work and they are aware that if they try to force it down the throats of the chareidi tzibur, it will backfire. She warns that acting forcefully against them will result in rabbonim speaking out and instructing the entire community to defy the new law.
When asked about Hesder Yeshivos, she stated agreement was reached with hesder rabbonim by which IDF service will remain at the current 17 months. She is confident that there is a majority supporting this among committee members.
She also confirmed that MKs Elazar Stern (The Movement) and Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) are working to place a ceiling on the number of hesder talmidim to prevent that number from growing too large. Stern has been a longtime activist of eliminating hesder for he feels the hesder soldiers should not serve separately but they should be integrated into regular units.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
Shmad.
In the interest of equity, charedim must be given a Hesder option. In other words, charedi yeshivas must be allowed to have Hesder programs for their talmidim.
“Stern has been a longtime activist of eliminating hesder for he feels the hesder soldiers should not serve separately but they should be integrated into regular units.” — This is called Ideology at the expense of National Security. Are the hesder units performing at a level which is substandard to the rest of the IDF that integrating them with the rest of the frei military is essential to optimal mission readiness? I highly doubt it. I have heard anecdotally by regular IDF personnel and brass that a disproportionate number of officer are from the hesder units. OK, so that means the system is functioning well as it is. So what problem does MK Stern want address?
As an aside, yesterday my son just received his early release from the IDF because he told his commander that he did not want to stay in any longer, and that he was bored, and not being used to the best of his ability. He was a top student in yeshiva, scored high on the SATs, and the Psychometric. He had a 90 IDF profile. And his job (after a stint in the infantry): folding maps. Yes, that’s right. With all the budget cuts to training, procurement, reserve duty, etc., what will fix the IDF? Bringing in the haredim. Who knows? Maybe that’s HaShem’s plan for being mekarev another 30% of Klal Yisrael.
In the interest of equality chilonim must be given yeshiva options and encourage to indulge in Torah studies and prayers full day as a main protection of all evils and enemies. After all the Jewish nation were known throughout generations as Am Hasefer, the people of the book. It’s a shame that Jewish boys were robbed from their noble heritage as if they are equal to other nations.