The government will be asked to approve on Sunday a new plan that is expected to double the number of Charedim serving in the army and civil service within the next five years.
The plan proposes that 2,400 yeshiva students be enlisted in 2011, half to the army and half to civil service. A year later, the number is set to rise to 3,000, and by 2015 the plan includes 4,800 enlisted men and women.
There are currently some 5,500 18-year old yeshiva students in Israel, and in 2015 there are expected to be around 7,400. The team that assembled the plan hopes that 65% of this public will have performed some form of service by age 28.
As their service, the students will be able to choose between the IDF, police, Prison Service, firefighters, paramedics, and other rescue services.
The plan also cancels a resolution passed in near total secrecy last summer, which states that ultra-Orthodox men over the age of 22 will be released from service if they have two kids or more. The resolution was aimed at promoting the incorporation of these men into the workforce, but the IDF opposed it.
Now, according to the plan, haredim aged 22-23 will be referred to service in the security forces, whereas those who have children will be sent to regular civil service.
In addition, the inter-ministerial team in charge of the plan recommends including haredim in reserve forces from age 28, rather than 30, as currently stands.
The team says the plan will not “significantly harm” the willingness of haredim to enlist in the offered tracks, but rather “speed up their inclusion in the workforce, thus increasing equality and their part in the economic burden”.
(Source: Ynet)
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2 Responses
bezrat Hashem this will all benefit everone
Despite all the hoopla that Israel has abandoned its Communist past, somethings have not changed. There still exists the basic Totalitarian assumption that the person belongs to the State and the State has a right, even the obligation, to control that person.
We need a security system, a civil service system and an emergency support system. All of these can be fully and better staffed by voluntary induction. There is absolutely no reason to draft anyone into any of these services. More than enough people will volunteer and if realistic career opportunity are offered, more than enough will stay. The base motivation the Government has for press-ganging people into service is to establish their power over them. It has nothing to do with the needs of the nation.
Aryeh Zelasko
Beit Shemesh