The Israeli government is facing increasing pressure from broad sectors of Israeli society demanding that religious Jews, “Haredim,” be subjected to compulsory conscription like the rest of the Israelis, according to what analysts confirm to the Al-Hurra website.
The draft compulsory conscription law, which the Israeli government intends to discuss this week, intensifies these demands, especially after the media published part of the proposed legislation, which maintains the exemption of “Haredim” from joining compulsory military service.
This week, a member of the Israeli war government, Benny Gantz, threatened to resign from the emergency government if the Knesset approved the proposed legislation. What Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid described as the “law of evasion.”
Details of the proposed legislation have not yet been revealed, but portions published by Israeli media indicate that it would maintain, and perhaps even expand, the controversial exemption for religious Jews from military service.
According to the newspaper “The Times of Israel“The draft law will extend the exemption for graduates of ultra-Orthodox educational institutions for another 3 years, and will only allow financial penalties instead of criminal penalties for conscription evaders.
The draft law also includes raising the age at which Haredi men become too old to be conscripted from 26 to 35 years, which may force them to remain in religious school for an additional 9 years, if they wish to continue receiving exemptions.
Why do the Haredim refuse conscription?
Israeli law allowed everyone who had belonged to independent Orthodox religious education, “Haredi,” for a period of no less than 4 years to be exempt from compulsory military service upon reaching the age of eighteen, according to what the “Al-Hurra” website, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a member of the Central Committee of the Hezbollah Party, told Al-Hurra. Work, Meir Masri.
The decision to exempt Haredi youth from compulsory conscription if they enroll in religious schools goes back to a settlement reached during the era of the founder of the state, David Ben-Gurion, in 1948, according to what the newspaper reported.Financial TimesThe British newspaper said in a report, noting that this matter became increasingly controversial with the expansion of exemptions, thanks to a decision issued in 1977.
They refuse to be conscripted into the Israeli army.. Who are the Haredi Jews?
Opposition leader in Israel, Yair Lapid, on Sunday criticized members of the Orthodox Jewish community, “Haredim,” saying that many of them do not work and will find it difficult to adapt to life outside Israel.
According to what was reported by the newspaper,HaaretzAccording to Israeli army officials, the number of religious school students currently of military age is about 66,000 young men, between the ages of 21 and 26 years.
In a phone call with the Al-Hurra website, Israeli political analyst Mordechai Kedar said that the Haredi sect’s refusal to join the army is due to reasons related to their social behavior, “as they view the state as secular and does not preserve or apply Jewish law.”
Kedar adds: “It is not only recruitment that they abstain from, they are also closed off and do not participate in public life,” noting that “the fundamental problem is their isolation from society. They must re-engage in it.”
The Israeli army has combat units that take into account the application of Jewish law, such as not mixing between men and women, and providing “kosher” (halal) food, according to Kedar, who says that there are religious people in Israel who agree to conscription in the army, unlike the “Haredim.”
How much does the army need them?
The current draft law comes at a “delicate” time for Israel, according to what analysts say to the Al-Hurra website, as thousands of soldiers were called to participate in the war on the Gaza Strip and the northern front on the Lebanese border nearly 6 months ago.
Israeli political analyst Yoav Stern confirms to Al-Hurra website that “there is a need to conscript the Haredim into the army, at least not all of them now, in light of the shortage in the number of soldiers in the army,” pointing out that for this reason “there is also talk about prolonging the period of conscription.” Compulsory recruitment, and early recruitment of some young men.”
Recently, the Israeli army announced plans to prolong the length of military service for regular conscripts and delay the retirement of reserve soldiers, according to the channel’s website.i24“Israeli.
Meir Masri believes that “the problem with the issue does not lie in the army’s need for more manpower, as much as its importance from a national perspective.”
This is also confirmed by Kedar, who says: “Some extremist religious people view the state as if it is not worthy of sacrifice, because it is not an ideal state from a religious standpoint from their point of view.”
Report: A threat facing Netanyahu due to the Israeli army’s exemption of the Haredim
The chief Sephardic rabbi in Israel, Yitzhak Yosef, caused a sensation outside the limited circle of Israel’s religious community, when he announced that religious people known as “Haredim” may leave the country if they are conscripted into the army, according to the British newspaper “Financial Times”.
The Haredi sect constitutes about one-eighth of Israel’s population, and is expected to represent a quarter by 2050, according to the Financial Times.
Stern says, “Students from the Haredi community currently constitute 25 percent of the total first-grade students in Israel. After 20 years, they will be much more; in this case, Israeli society cannot bear the burden of army recruitment without the Haredim.”
On the other hand, Masri does not believe that there is an urgent need at the present time to recruit “Haredi” youth, saying that the efforts to absorb “Haredim” into the army come from the standpoint of demanding equal opportunities and equality among citizens, as there are also similar efforts to recruit members of the Arab component. More broadly, with the aim of integrating them into society.
Are they forced to conscript?
During their conversation with Al-Hurra website, experts and analysts ruled out that the Haredim would be forced into compulsory conscription in Israel. They also agreed that the current Israeli government would not be able to take this step, given the political repercussions of the Haredim’s complete rejection. Kedar says: “Even if there is a law that forces the Haredim to conscript, they cannot be recruited by force in any case.” .
He adds: “This is in addition to the fact that the party coalitions in the Knesset always want to please them and give them economic advantages, to win their support, as a result of their heavy presence as a very large population bloc.”
Masri believes that the draft military conscription law that grants exemption will be passed, or “the government will collapse,” saying: “Yes, I have no doubt about that. The law will be renewed, otherwise the government will collapse.” Stern believes that “this law will become a major point of contention, as a result of which the government will be dismantled and early elections will be held.”
He added: “Politicians may exploit this disagreement, especially in light of a consensus within Israeli society, whether the center, the left, or the secularists, and perhaps some religious people who are not Haredim, to go to the elections not because of Hamas and the war, but rather as a result of internal disputes.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has just begun an official visit to the United States, confirmed that he “will not support” the draft law scheduled to be presented to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
This is why Stern believes that Defense Minister Gallant’s opposition to the bill may favor the scenario of dismantling the government, “because he is a very important figure in the coalition.”
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