Dozens of commanders in the IDF reserves sent a letter warning that the current proposal for an ultra-Orthodox draft bill will deepen inequality in Israel and harm security, while senior officials in the Finance Ministry warn that the legislative outline will not be effective.
The letter, sent this week to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other senior officials, says that the proposed outline will ultimately harm Israel’s security.
The IDF’s plan to increase the time conscripts and reservists serve in the military, combined with the Haredi enlistment law, which would allow most ultra-Orthodox men to be exempt from military service, would create an “extremely unequal” situation, the commanders charged in their letter.
A law allowing young Haredi men to continuously push off their military service for yeshiva until they reached the age of exemption expired last year, and the government had until this week to legislate a new one.
As the deadline drew nearer, the government was set to meet on Netanyahu’s draft of the bill on Tuesday, but the meeting was pushed off after the prime minister decided to make changes to the draft.
After members of his government, including Gallant, expressed strong objections to the original plan, Netanyahu postponed the planned cabinet discussion on the issue and instead entered into marathon talks within his coalition on the controversial reform.
The reservist commanders’ letter, dated Sunday and publicized on Tuesday, warned that the government was trying to “solve the need for more soldiers in the easiest way for politicians — increasing the burden on those who are already serving.”
“Under the new outline, the IDF will no longer be the ‘People’s Army.’ This is an outline that will greatly increase injustice and inequality and perpetuate serious discrimination between our people,” they wrote.
The commanders also warned that beyond the feeling of inequality, there were concerns that under the new proposal, “the reserve system will not be able to meet its requirements, to the point of difficulty in manning operations.”
“We demand from you, the people responsible by law and by virtue of your authority for our routine and emergency operation, to stand firm and prevent any discriminatory and offensive recruitment plan of this kind,” the commanders added.
Meanwhile, senior Finance Ministry officials also expressed opposition to the lack of personal financial sanctions in the government’s proposed draft, arguing that they would be ineffective in persuading yeshiva students to join the IDF.
According to national broadcaster Kan, ministry officials objected to financial penalties being placed on yeshivas that fail to meet whatever enlistment quota is ultimately approved instead of on individuals, and said that only personal sanctions would have the desired effect.
Netanyahu released an amended version of the draft text on Monday, following pushback from within his coalition and a warning by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara that she would be unable to defend the initial proposal in court.
The original outline did not set a quota of ultra-Orthodox men enlisting per year, the Ynet news outlet reported on Sunday. Instead, it set the age of exemption from service at 35 and ensured that Haredi men who don’t enlist would not personally face financial sanctions. It also included a plan to set up special ultra-Orthodox battalions in the IDF and add Haredi positions in the country’s emergency services and government offices.
According to Hebrew media reports on Tuesday morning, the attorney general requested revisions to the original proposal to include annual recruitment targets in pursuit of a “significant and gradual increase” in enlistment by yeshiva students and graduates of ultra-Orthodox educational institutions.
Channel 12 and Ynet reported on Tuesday that the attorney general has requested that recruitment target figures be included in the legislation, while ultra-Orthodox parties reject that proposal.
Baharav-Miara was not alone in objecting to the original plan, with Gallant saying in a statement on Sunday that he could not support it and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz saying that the people of Israel would not be able to put up with it and threatening to leave the emergency government if the legislation passed.
Gantz and his fellow National Unity member, Gadi Eisenkot, recently introduced an outline that would see ultra-Orthodox and Arab high school graduates enter into military or social service alongside Israelis who already do military or national service.
Sam Sokol contributed to this report.