From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Knesset committee chair blasts lack of orderly plan for ultra-Orthodox enlistment
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"
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) accuses the government of having “no plan” for the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews during a hearing in the Knesset this morning.
“I don’t understand why it was so urgent to announce yesterday that thousands of conscription orders had been issued for the ultra-Orthodox, when today it turns out that there is no plan and no numbers,” he says, announcing 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 set the age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students at 21, down from the current 26, while “very slowly” increasing the rate of ultra-Orthodox enlistment.
Following the IDF’s announcement yesterday that it will begin sending out initial draft orders to members of the Haredi 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 ultra-Orthodox,” his office says in a statement.
In the wake of the government’s inability to deal with the issue legislatively, the High Court of Justice ruled last month that there is no legal basis for excluding Haredi men from the military draft, leading the Attorney General’s Office to instruct the Israel Defense Forces to immediately draft 3,000 Haredi 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 ultra-Orthodox this year, which would be in addition to the 1,800 Haredi soldiers who are drafted annually.
