After more than a decade of political instability as a result of the Supreme Court’s meddling in the government and the military’s Haredi draft policy, it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition has finally produced a bill that would satisfy both the Supreme Court and the Haredi parties. Maybe. Some in the coalition are still unhappy. We’ll get to that.
Netanyahu on Monday informed Likud ministers that the draft bill had to pass, or they wouldn’t have a government.
Israel Hayom was one of the dailies who posted the latest version of the draft bill on Monday. So, here goes:
THE HAREDI DRAFT BILL’S LATEST DRAFT
- Establishment of a Haredi battalion as early as the August 2024 recruitment cycle. In addition, the PM will weigh incorporating military service tracks especially suited for the Haredi public, including segregated venues dedicated to preparing young Hardi servicemen for future employment.
- Establishment of a security track in national service, to promote employment in hi-tech that will eventually yield higher incomes. Meanwhile, there will be an increase in the number of graduates of Haredi institutions in first response and medical services.
- Establishment of annual recruitment quotas to reflect the number of graduates of Haredi educational institutions each year, and reduce the gap in recruitment between enlisted haredim and non-Haredim. The recruitment quotas will be set by the government by May 19.
- Economic sanctions and positive incentives will depend on whether or not the annual recruitment quotas have been met.
Negative incentives: the government will reduce financial support for institutions where graduates who are of mandatory conscription age did not meet the quotas.
Positive incentives: these will be publicized no later than April 21.
The plan is for the draft bill to be publicized officially no later than April 21 this year. It will be submitted for the government’s approval by May 19, and on the Knesset agenda by June 30.
Haaretz on Monday quoted Minister Benny Gantz whose handlers may not have read the draft’s text by the time he reacted. In any event, Gantz addressed the “exemption law for Haredim” as he called it during a tour of the northern border, and said that “it is inconceivable that precisely while society as a whole is mobilized and making an effort for the sake of our home, the government is promoting a law that crumbles its foundations.”
Gantz added that his National Union party, or is it the Blue & White Party, “wants agreements, but only those that lead to a fair solution. We want a solution to conscription, not an exemption from conscription.”
See? All they gave him was the page with the slogans, to keep him busy while the boys in Tel Aviv came up with more serious ways to shoot down this proposal. But to keep on the safe side, Gantz threatened that the “exemption law for Haredim” is a red line for his party, which cannot “be part of a government that passes such a law.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid also responded to the new draft without reading it, and called it a “fraud on the public.” According to Lapid, the proposed law is “an insult to the IDF and its soldiers,” and “everyone who is a partner in this government is a partner in this moral stain.”
That means you, Benny.
Lapid also asserted that “Not a single Haredi will enlist thanks to this proposal by the decision-makers. It has no goals, no quotas, no sanctions. All the evaders and those with exemptions will continue to receive their money.”
See? I told you he didn’t read it. But that’s not such a bad thing, he doesn’t read anything. He once suggested that Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Greek philosopher. And he said Don Quixote was in love with Rosinante. But Don Quixote was in love with Dulcinea. Rosinante was his horse.
