“They also serve who only stand and wait.”

    Sonnet 19,     John Milton

 

Earlier this week Ultra-Orthodox coalition politicians criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to pass a law granting exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox men. One enraged minister said Netanyahu should resign if he can’t keep his promises. He was referring to a legislation commitment included in the coalition agreement. The legislators, members of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Party, threatened to withhold support for the state budget, if there were further delays in passing the required legislation. The coalition agreement between UTJ and Likud includes a clear pledge to approve such legislation before the budget is passed.

The UTJ coalition party members should have known better than to rely on Netanyahu’s promises.

The right-wing, religious coalition is seeking to pass legislation that would lower the age for exemption from military service for yeshiva students from 26 to 21 years.

The current age of exemption has prevented them from entering the workforce until after the age of 26, even if they ceased studying at Torah institutes.   

However, political analysts speculate that the sides will have to reach a compromise in order to avoid a government crisis. Now it appears that the crisis has been forestalled.

An unsourced report in numerous Hebrew media outlets said United Torah Judaism and Shas have both acquiesced to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to postpone passing a bill on the highly contentious issue by a few months, likely until the autumn Knesset session in October.

While the coalition agreements signed between the parties and Likud committed to pass such legislation before the state budget is passed, the government now has only four weeks to clear the complicated, two-year trillion-shekel budget through the committee process and two more votes on the Knesset floor before its May 29 deadline, or risk triggering an automatic dissolution of parliament and snap elections.

The Haredi parties reportedly agreed that passing the budget and ensuring the stability of the government is the best way for them to eventually pass such legislation later this year.

Nevertheless, revered rabbis of the respective Haredi parties have yet to approve the postponement.

The issue of Haredi enlistment in the IDF is highly contentious both within and outside of the current coalition, and is a topic that has been hotly debated for decades. The High Court of Justice has twice struck down broad religious study exemptions, and the Knesset has failed to draft legislation to both skirt anti-discrimination laws and satisfy ultra-Orthodox politicians.

Instead, defence ministers have been requesting and receiving extensions on passing legislation on the issue from the court. The current, 15th extension is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2023.

In practice, only around 1,000 Haredim are drafted to the IDF each year, out of approximately 11,000 ultra-Orthodox males who turn 18 each year.

According to the IDF, the number of ultra-Orthodox military recruits has increased in recent years, but they still remain a minority. Based on data by the Central Bureau of Statistics for 2020, the Haredi population stood at 1,175,000 people. The number of Haredi recruits stood at 1,906 in 2016, 1,374 in 2017, 1,788 in 2018, and 1,222 in 2019, in every case, slightly more than one-tenth of one percent of the entire sector. 

The leaders of Israel’s Haredi communities oppose performing mandated national civil or military service, seeing it as a way for external forces to potentially draw away its members. Some more extreme elements in the Haredi community have engaged in violent protests against military conscription.

 

 "We prefer to die than serve in the IDF"

 Meanwhile, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush, (Agudat Yisrael faction of United Torah Judaism) has demanded the implementation of a so-called override clause allowing the Knesset to re-legislate legislation struck down by the High Court of Justice. Alternatively, he has called for a pre-empting mechanism that would protect certain bills from the High Court’s review.

 I want to conclude by quoting from an article published by Israel Hayom

Under the heading- “The price of defying convention.” The author highlighted the difficulties Haredi soldiers face after completing their military service. Suffice to mention just one complex situation they have to deal with. It concerns finding a wife by the traditional matchmaking, or shidduchim method, as it is called in the ultra-Orthodox world. “It is bad enough that the soldiers have to deal with the consequences of choices that their families might disapprove of, but they also struggle to move on by establishing a family of their own

And even if a particular family is accepting of their son's decision to enlist, the larger community might not be as accommodating.”

Right from the beginning of their army service they face difficulties. "Almost every Haredi soldier who comes from a classic ultra-Orthodox family is considered a ‘lone soldier’ by the IDF. Parents don't necessarily hate their son [who enlisted], but they rarely accept someone who chose a different path. At the swearing-in ceremonies of Haredi units, you will hardly see any suits or hats. They [family and friends] just don't come." 

"And even if the families accept it, the reactions and the attitude of the neighbourhood cause them heavy financial and mental damage.” …One Haredi soldier voiced a problem common to many others. “You feel you are the disappointment of the family, that you are [negatively] affecting your younger brothers. The experience of returning home for Shabbat, to the ultra-Orthodox community, in uniform, and with a weapon, is not pleasant. That is why Haredi soldiers are permitted to wear civilian clothes while on leave from the army.

Despite the difficulties they encounter many manage to settle down after the army.

 

Take care

 

Beni,                                                  4^th of May, 2023.