‘Absolute chaos’: Knesset committee to hold urgent hearing as IDF announces start of Haredi draft
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Chairman Yuli Edelstein informs members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that there will be an “urgent” hearing tomorrow morning to discuss the IDF’s announcement that it will begin sending out initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community on Sunday.
According to a message to committee MKs obtained by the Times of Israel, Edelstein wrote that at the beginning of Wednesday’s scheduled discussion of the Haredi enlistment law, there will be an update regarding these orders, which are set to be sent a week after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said they would begin going out in August.
“As of this time, 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 ultra-Orthodox,” Edelstein’s office says in a statement.
As such, Edelstein questions the legal standing of the orders and says that “it is not at all clear if this is an arbitrary selection of recruits or if there are any criteria behind the selection of those chosen for recruitment.”
