From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Chair of Knesset defense committee says enlistment bill must provide ‘a real answer’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) calls to pass a law providing a solution to the IDF’s manpower needs during a hearing on a controversial bill dealing with the military service of yeshiva students.
“I saw the headlines and heard all kinds of definitions — the draft law, the non-draft law, the evasion law, it’s not relevant. What is placed before the committee is essentially a platform, a shortcut to bureaucratic procedural procedures. We have the possibility, based on this platform, to enact a new law and provide a real answer to the needs of the IDF and the security system for the new reality,” he says.
“We need to provide a short-term solution that will also work in the long-term. This means allowing an ultra-Orthodox guy who enlists to also emerge as ultra-Orthodox. It is not always simple, there will also be conflicting values, but the IDF must prepare,” Edelstein adds.
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