The Israeli Ministry of Finance’s Budget Division declared today its opposition to Defense Minister Yisroel Katz’s stance and is calling for immediate personal sanctions against draftees who refuse to report for military service.
In a document sent to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee ahead of ongoing discussions in the Knesset, the Ministry of Finance highlighted the dual consequences – both security and economic – of the current situation.
Rather than the institutional sanctions suggested by Minister Katz, the Ministry of Finance is advocating for individual actions like revoking dormitory subsidies, eliminating discounts on property taxes and national insurance, and withdrawing housing subsidy benefits.
“The economic burden of not conscripting Chareidim is becoming increasingly heavy,” the document explains, pointing out that the cost of one month of reserve duty to the economy is estimated at 50,000 shekels.
According to publicly available data, only 513 out of 3,000 Chareidim who were given initial draft orders last summer showed up for duty. Meanwhile, the IDF urgently requires an additional 10,000-12,000 soldiers, with a target of 4,800 Chareidi draftees for the current year.
“Only negative sanctions will reduce the enormous burden on the reserves, which costs about 30 billion shekels a year,” stated MK Moshe Tur-Paz (Yesh Atid). “Anything that is not a relief for them is a harm to the reservists and to Israel’s security.”
{Matzav.com Israel}