Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein of Likud has criticized the government for lacking a clear strategy on the conscription of chareidim during a Knesset hearing this morning.
“I don’t understand why it was so urgent to announce yesterday that thousands of conscription orders had been issued for the chareidim, when today it turns out that there is no plan and no numbers,” he remarked. He announced that a follow-up discussion on the matter will take place in the committee tomorrow, during which he “expect[s] the IDF representatives to come with a detailed plan and present exact numbers.”
Edelstein’s committee is currently debating legislation that would lower the age of exemption from mandatory service for chareidi yeshiva students from 26 to 21, while “very slowly” increasing the rate of chareidi enlistment.
Following the IDF’s announcement yesterday that it will begin sending out initial draft orders to members of the chareidi community on Sunday, Edelstein insists that there is “no indication of an orderly mechanism or clear criteria as to who is expected to receive the draft orders.”
“Such a move is expected to provoke absolute chaos among the chareidi,” his office stated in a release.
Due to the government’s failure to address the issue legislatively, the High Court of Justice ruled last month that there is no legal basis for excluding chareidi men from the military draft, leading the Attorney General’s Office to instruct the Israel Defense Forces to immediately draft 3,000 chareidi young men.
Addressing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee earlier this month, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that while the military currently requires some 10,000 new soldiers, it can only accommodate the enlistment of an additional 3,000 chareidim this year, in addition to the 1,800 chareidi soldiers who are drafted annually.
{Matzav.com}