Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon is postponing the draft notices which were expected to go out to hundreds of Haredi yeshiva students who should be enlisting between August and December, 2013, this according to a message that was sent on Tuesday from the State Attorney General’s office to the Supreme Court, Kol Israel reported.
In the message, the state attorney is telling the court that the government is doing all it can to complete the new draft law, and is asking the court in the meantime not to accept appeals regarding the failure to draft yeshiva students.
According to the AG’s office, legislation work is going full steam ahead and is already at an advanced stage.
According to the AG’s message to the high court, the number of yeshiva students who will be drafted in stages, from August this year to April, 2015, is 6,367. It was also reported that as many as 820 Haredim have been drafted, in accordance with their expressed wishes.
The citizens’ group calling itself The Quality in Government Movement has announced that the Minister of Defense’s decision to delay yet again the yeshiva students’ draft legislation is being executed without his having the proper authority for it, and constitutes trampling on the basic principles of democracy, including the principle of obeying the law and of equality before the law.
The CEO of another NGO, Chidush (an acronym for Religious Freedom and Equality), which has already appealed to the Supreme Court against the Minister of Defense, stated that Ya’alon’s announcement proves he has no interest in drafting yeshiva students, and is doing anything in his power to avoid it.