Haredi MK slams ‘unprofessional’ Finance Ministry claims that military draft bill won’t work

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher slams a recent Finance Ministry report that argued that the government’s bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription will not lead to an increase in enlistment, and could instead reduce the number of Haredim who join the military.

Asher, who represents the Haredi party’s Degel HaTorah faction, says that while some of the report’s arguments are based on the treasury’s area of expertise — the economy — “the conclusions it draws about the social and security aspects are not exactly professional.”

“When the treasury determines that sanctions will not encourage Haredi youth to enlist, or that the law will not solve the manpower situation in the IDF, it is basically making a psychosocial forecast outside its area of expertise. Assessments of community behavior, social pressure, or personal choices of young people are not budget formulas that can be calculated, and therefore have lower reliability,” he says, slamming opposition lawmakers for taking the ministry’s analysis at face value.