Ultra-Orthodox to get draft exemptions until 2023

A new amendment to legislation compelling ultra-Orthodox Israelis to perform national service or face stiff penalties removes the threat of automatic criminal sanctions for those who refuse to serve, and allows members of the community to delay their service until 2023.

The amendment to the Equal Service Law was circulated among government ministers Thursday night, Channel 2 television reported Friday, saying it had a copy of the draft.

The changes were drafted to accommodate a coalition demand by the ultra-Orthodox parties to abolish the law spearheaded in the last government by the centrist party Yesh Atid.

According to the draft received by Channel 2, the bill extends the “period of adjustment” included in the previous legislation, which grants young ultra-Orthodox full exemption from service for a certain amount of time. The original draft granted an exemption until 2017, whereas the new draft extends that until 2020. Furthermore, there will now be a “second adjustment period” from 2020 until 2023.

The bill also rules out automatic penalties for young ultra-Orthodox men who refuse to serve, as laid out in the previous law, and instead those punishments will be handed out at the discretion of the defense minister.

According to Channel 2, the majority of the other clauses within the proposed law are unchanged, including the annual targets for recruitment in the ultra-Orthodox sector, which are set to increase year on year. By 2020, some 15,000 Haredi men are expected to be performing some form of national service.

In 2023, when the legislation expires, the Knesset will be required to either extend it or begin imposing criminal sanctions under the existing law on national service, which will then apply to ultra-Orthodox youth as well as the rest of the eligible population.

A series of senior officials have worked on the formulation of the new legislation in recent weeks, led by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who has consulted with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and representatives from the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The change is expected to receive government approval next week. It will then be submitted to a Knesset vote before lawmakers vote on the state budget, in accordance with a demand by the ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset.

Yesh Atid lawmakers on Wednesday railed against the proposed revisions, which were part of the coalition agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the ultra-Orthodox parties. Netanyahu has a majority of 61 seats in the Knesset, theoretically putting him at the mercy of any demands by his coalition partners.