From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Coalition reportedly mulls raising Haredi exemption age to 35-40; Lapid: ‘Another fraudulent attempt’
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"
In what appears to be a trial balloon by the government as it struggles to formulate a new legal framework regulating ultra-Orthodox military enlistment, coalition lawmakers are working on legislation to raise the exemption age for yeshiva students to 35-40, Israel Hayom reports.
Ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men of military age have been able to avoid the draft for decades by enrolling for study in yeshivas and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reach the age of military exemption at 26.
However, according to Israel Hayom, the security establishment is now recommending increasing Talmud students’ period of exemption, arguing that requiring young Haredi men to stay in yeshiva for decades instead of entering the workforce in their twenties could deter them from signing up for a lifetime of study, and instead encourage their enlistment.
Haredi lawmakers have expressed initial support for the idea, the outlet reports.
A law authorizing the current exemption expired in June 2023, and a temporary regulation to extend it is set to expire at the end of March, after which the military will not be authorized to exempt Haredi young men from the draft and will need to start enlisting them.
In response, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tweeted that raising the exemption age is “another fraudulent attempt that will cause Haredi youth to neither enlist nor work.”
The Times of Israel Community.