The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is set to discuss the conscription law on Monday, less than a day after the government approved the extension of the reserve service.
Another discussion on the subject will take place tomorrow evening. The committee’s chairman, MK Yuli Edelstein, commented on the discussions on the conscription law.
“The conscription law discussions are nothing less than historic,” he said. “76 years of procrastination and avoiding proper consideration are coming to an end. It depends on all of us – coalition and opposition.”
“In these discussions, all the people of Israel will see which people come with an active desire to bring about a correct and effective amendment that will meet the needs of the army and which people come with old demagogy to play a political and populist game,” Edelstein continued.
“The goal is to promote effective, correct, and fast legislation. It is possible.”
The Knesset committee approved the government’s request to advance the law to extend reserve service in an expedited procedure, and the plenary is expected to approve it today in the first reading.
This is a temporary order for three months, in accordance with the request of attorney-general Gali Baharav Miara, who criticized its promotion as deepening inequality.
Members of the Knesset severely criticized the proposal’s timing for coinciding with the proposal of the haredi exemption draft in the debate.
Netanyahu to answer opposition’s questions in Knesset plenum
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to carry this afternoon’s remarks at the “40 signatures” debate in the Knesset plenum, initiated by members of the Knesset from the opposition.
About two weeks ago, the Knesset Plenum approved the application of the Law of Continuity to exempt ultra-Orthodox from IDF recruitment.
The law passed with the support of 63 MKs against 57 opponents, including Defense Minister Gallant who voted against the government’s position. Applying the Law of Continuity means that the coalition will be able to advance the bill that Gantz promoted in the previous Knesset from the same point of legislation from which they stopped in the previous Knesset, that is, from the second and third readings.
This in an attempt to regulate the status of yeshivas, continue the budgeting of educational institutions and the recruitment of thousands of individual ultra-Orthodox every year.
The promotion of the conscription law at this time is considered controversial. It is true that this is the conscription law that Gantz promoted when he was the Defense Minister in the change government, but it is considered to go against the needs of the army, which desperately needs soldiers for the war.
In addition, Gantz promoted the law thinking that it would be the first step in a gradual process to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the army, and therefore set low recruitment targets for the ultra-Orthodox community. While few believe that the government has the intention of continuing the process of integrating the ultra-Orthodox into the army, and setting higher recruitment targets in the future.
What is the IDF haredi draft law
The exemption age from conscription for yeshiva students will drop to 21 for two years, then rise to 22 for one year, and later be set at 23. The lowering of the conscription age is intended to encourage the ultra-Orthodox to integrate into the job market at an earlier age, instead of remaining in the yeshiva until age 24 – the current exemption age.
The law proposed setting annual recruitment targets for ultra-Orthodox in order to gradually increase the number of recruits. According to the proposal, the recruitment targets will increase from year to year in a way that reflects the average growth rate of the ultra-orthodox population plus a percentage. After that they will grow only according to the average population growth rate.
