Budget Department at the Finance Ministry Chairman Yogev Gardos spoke on Tuesday morning before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, emphasizing the economic need to conscript all populations in Israel.
Gardos argued that enlisting 1,000 haredi soldiers would shorten reserve duty by 14 days annually for all servicemen. According to the Treasury, conscripting 1,000 haredim into the IDF would save 1.3 billion shekels each year.
Knesset member Orit Farkash-Hacohen (National Unity) responded: “The more, the better.”
The Treasury warned that focusing conscription on the haredi male population “is expected to cause significant harm in efforts to integrate this group into the labor market.”
They added that it would encourage work in the black market and that their service wouldn’t meet the army’s needs due to their family responsibilities.
Draft changed ‘from end to end’
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein stated during the debate, “I have not yet seen a draft of the conscription law agreed upon by everyone; whoever has one is welcome to share it with me.
“Tomorrow we will begin working on the law’s text in a professional and precise manner, and I promise that it will change from end to end in such a way that it will be agreed upon by the public and meet the national needs of the State of Israel.
“The path to a historic solution that will lead to the conscription of Haredim and provide a genuine response to the IDF’s needs starts right here in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” Edelstein concluded.
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