Proposed amendment would delay haredi conscription another three years
Should enlistment quotas after 2020 not be met, then some economic sanctions would apply to yeshivas, but will be determined by the prime minister, defense minister, and finance minister.
By JEREMY SHARONHaredi protest in Jerusalem against draft(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The coalition has reportedly reached an agreement for the terms of an amendment to the law for haredi conscription, which will postpone full implementation of that law until 2020.The law, as it was passed in the 19th Knesset, stipulated that increasing numbers of full-time ultra-Orthodox students would be required to enlist every year until 2017, when all such students would be required to serve, aside from 1,800 exceptional students who would be given an exemption.Under the terms of the amendment drawn up by the Ministry of Defense and in coordination with senior haredi (ultra-Orthodox) MKs, the 2017 date will now be pushed to 2020, according to the Behadrey Haredim news site.Should enlistment quotas after 2020 not be met, then some economic sanctions would apply to yeshivas, but will be determined by the prime minister, defense minister, and finance minister.The government will now try to pass the amendment in its first reading, before the budget is finalized later this month, as was part of the coalition deal between Likud, United Torah Judaism and Shas.It seems the haredi parties have sought to avoid an outright appeal of the previous law out of concern of a rejection by the High Court of Justice when activist groups inevitably contest it.
