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Aug 22, 2021
Haredi Draft Law passed by government
the Haredi Draft Law has been a thorn in the side of a lot of people for a very long time; the IDF, politicians from all across the spectrum, the Haredi community, the secular community, askanim, and maybe others.
Even when draft laws were previously passed into law in various forms, the Supreme Court eventually struck them down, generally as being unequal to society and therefore unconstitutional, even though we have no constitution.
PM Bennett has for years already been touting a new plan that would grant the Haredi community an automatic exemption at age 21. Bennett has always said that he knows it is not fair, but it is what is necessary. Bennett's goal is to forget about Haredim in the army, which is less important, but to give the Haredi young men a future and have them join the workforce and help Israel grow its economy, which is more important. Releasing them from any army obligations at age 21 will let them leave yeshiva, should any want to, and go to study for vocational training or academics, or work, at a reasonable age, and get them educated and into the workforce.
Others have focused on other aspects of the Draft law, such as quotas, penalties, etc. Some fought the dropping of the exemption age saying that at 21 the law won't stand up to the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. For years this has dragged on with no solution. The Draft Law was one of the factors, or possibly THE factor that led to Avigdor Lieberman breaking away from Netanyahu and eventually leading the country into eventually four rounds of elections until the current government was formed.
The government members came to a compromise and passed an initial Draft Law.
Bennett got his way, but only temporarily.
The new draft law that was just passed will lower the exemption age for Haredi men to the age of 21 years. However, this age will only stand as the exemption age for 2 years. After 2 years, it will bump up to the age of 22 for 1 year. And the year after that it will be bumped up again to the age of 23, where it will stay.
The age will go up, but any Haredi young man who registers for academic or vocational training at the age of 21 (even when exemption age is 22-23), or for training to work in the security forces (fire, security, and some others), they will be allowed to without getting tossed into the army first They will only have to wait until 22-23 if they just want to leave yeshiva but not sign up for vocational training.
The new Draft Law will still have to pass the voting in Knesset, but so far it has passed its first hurdle by being passed by the government.
source: Kikar
This is a weird compromise and I am not quite sure what it is for, though I suspect it is to make it easier to defend against challenges in the Supreme Court.
While theoretically it makes sense if the goal is to give people who want it an opportunity to start studying for a career at a reasonable age, it is going to upset many people (and I am not even talking about Haredi leadership who always opposed letting the yeshiva guys out so young) - secular and religious are stuck in the army until 21,22 and then often take a break (travel or work usually) and often only start studying at 23 or 24. People are going to be upset that these young men who did not serve in the army are being given the opportunity not just to not serve, which is difficult enough on its own for several reasons, but then also get somewhat of a head start on their future careers over the people who did serve the country in the IDF?
I am not sure I see how this will be defended, even with raising the age after the first two years as fair and constitutional.
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Every country in the world, including Israel, has a constitution. It's just that in some countries, like Israel, it's "uncodified," meaning it's not one single document.
ReplyDeleteinteresting way to put it
DeleteThe United Kingdom famously has no codified constitution, but it's very common in British circles to speak of "the great British constitution." They even had a Secretary for Constitutional Affairs.
DeleteOf course, the situation can be abused, as the Court in Israel does. But the US Supreme Court abuses plenty *with* a codified constitution.
Since the exemption is until 21 for the next 2 years, and when the age gets bumped up to 22 and then 23, that affects the exact same groups of boys who got the benefit until 21.
ReplyDeleteNo one new is included... It's a bluff.
So if a boy doesn't turn 21 within the next 2 years, the age of exemption is automatically 23
hmm. interesting. but boys that didnt take the exemption at 21 get more opportunities at 22 and 23...
DeleteAt 21 a bochur becomes exempt. He doesn't become redraftable because of not applying. So no one will become newly exempt for the 2 years starting 2 years from now.
DeleteDoes this mean that they can sit and learn til 21 and not be drafted? I don’t understand how it’s a draft law.
ReplyDeleteWhen do they get drafted, at 17, 18, 19, or 20? Please explain.
while the yeshivas will have to have a certain number of boys drafting to the army every year (there are going to be quotas but I dont know the numbers), most boys who want to learn will be able to without being drafted. At the age of 21/22/23, if they register for university or vocational training they will be granted a full exemption from the army
DeleteWhen you wrote "At the age of 21/22/23, if they register for university or vocational training they will be granted a full exemption from the army" - I think that is only for the boys who aren't 21 by the end of the 2 year start of this plan. Those boys who are 21 are fully exempt, and no one new gets a full exemption until they turn 23.
DeleteThe use of "boys" is very interesting here. By 21 most other Israelis have finished a three-year period of army service, many of them having been through combat. But the yeshiva students are still "boys."
Delete