The coalition plans to move forward with the Conscription Law following the Knesset’s summer break, it was reported Thursday on KAN.
The controversial bill was at the center of a letter sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties last week threatening to disband the government if the bill was not passed.
The law sets to expand exemptions on IDF service to yeshiva students.
The current law, which was passed in 2014 and technically expired on June 30, was granted an extension by the government until March 31, 2024, the date on which the cabinet said they will pass a new law.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) had appealed to the High Court of Justice in July to demand that the IDF start drafting the haredi men.
The court though accepted the state’s argument that the law gives the IDF 12 months to draft conscripts whose exemption has run out, which means there is nothing unlawful about the decision not to immediately begin drafting eligible haredi men.
The court had originally deemed the current draft bill unconstitutional in September 2017, saying that it was too sweeping and unequal.
The main aspect of the proposed new bill is to lower the age of permanent exemption from 26 to 22.
THE ENLISTMENT process for the Netzah Yehuda battalion takes place at the Tal Hashomer military base. (credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)Purpose of the bill
The purpose of the bill though is not to keep haredi men in yeshivot forever, but rather to promote integration into national service and the workforce. It will also include an increase in benefits to those who are currently serving in active or reserve capacities.
The KAN report said that the government anticipates a heavy public response to the bill and that even those that support the coalition will be hesitant to support the law.
A fear, though, of the Likud is that the haredi parties will indeed dissolve the government and join forces with MK Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party. Gantz has expressed an openness to passing a similar if not more favorable law with the haredi parties.
It is anticipated that an outline of the bill will be submitted shortly before the end of the Knesset’s summer recess on October 15, with the hope of passing the full bill shortly thereafter, as per comments from Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fox.
The current National Service Law, which passed in 2014 and in 2015, sets the number of haredi draftees to the IDF per year and sanctions yeshivot that do not meet these numbers. However, as mentioned, the High Court deemed the bill unconstitutional, saying it was unequal. The court initially gave the Knesset a year to amend the bill, but this was delayed 15 times due to the recurring elections since.
Because of this, formulations for the new bill have been careful as to toe the line of what may be considered too sweeping for the court, and therefore be struck down in an inevitable future court hearing.
Per reports, in general, the idea of the new law is to enact a new policy of choosing equality in the “economic burden” over the “military burden” by lowering the exemption age for haredi men from 26 to between 21-23, thus allowing them to enter the workforce earlier, while minimizing the inequality to soldiers by shortening the length of service and providing benefits for those who do serve.
Gantz tweeted in response to the reports that “Netanyahu is once again blackmailed and motivated by political considerations while being ready to sacrifice the People’s Army and Israeli society.
“Only a service plan that looks at Israel decades ahead, as I presented together with MK Gadi Eisenkot, will be able to guarantee security, fairness, national partnership, and a horizon for our ultra-Orthodox brothers and all citizens of Israel. This is the order of the hour.”
Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman also shot back at the report, tweeting a photo of a solider accompanied by a quote from Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf (United Torah Judaism) that read: “The one who studies Torah has a harder time than the one who goes to the frontlines.”
It was also reported that the coalition will plan to move forward with the new draft bill before the next stage of the judicial reforms focusing on the Judicial Selection Committee.
Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.
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