ISRAEL
Passover celebrations have given the Israeli Government a respite from the increasingly thorny problem over whether young ultra-orthodox men (known as Haredi) should be compelled to serve in the country’s defence force.
The issue has led to confrontational exchanges in the Israeli Parliament, with political parties representing the Haredi facing off against those who believe that no-one should be exempt from the draft.
It seems impossible a middle way can be found between the Haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas parties and Avigdor Liberman’s pro-conscription Yisrael Beytenu party.
Mr Liberman says he will quit the ruling coalition if a law passes that pays mere lip-service to his demand for greater Haredi participation in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
UTJ and Shas maintain that the right of Haredi men to engage in uninterrupted religious studies throughout their lives is a sacred symbol of the ultra-orthodox and they are unlikely to make any serious concessions.
The number of Haredi enlistees began to significantly increase in 2007, when the Government began to implement the Tal Law, five years after the legislation was actually passed, and now about one-third of the annual cohort of Haredi men reaching age 18 volunteer to serve.
One principle that most experts on the issue acknowledge is that it is physically and socially impossible to force anyone, including Haredi men, to perform military service.
Mass incarceration of draft dodgers would be undesirable and unfeasible, and would likely lead to mass civil disobedience in the Haredi sector.
Director of the Hiddush religious pluralism lobbying group, Rabbi Uri Regev said while it supported conscription, his organisation was opposed to any attempt to coercively force Haredi men to serve, calling the notion of criminal sanctions and imprisonment “a fantasy”.
Rabbi Regev said there was great value in having significant numbers of Jewish men devote a substantial amount of time to Torah study, as this generated an intellectual elite of Torah scholars.
He proposed a quota of 1,400 Haredi men every year be given military service exemptions and paid to continue with their Torah studies, comparing such a program with those available to athletes and artists.
Jerusalem, 3 April 2018
