MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) said Saturday evening that the Hesder crisis could be solved if the rabbis, Minister of Defense and IDF Chief of Staff agree to establish a team of military rabbis headed by the Chief IDF Rabbi, for religious soldiers to turn to with ideological dilemmas they encounter during their active service.
The crisis reached its peak after the Defense Ministry's decision to cease cooperating with Har Bracha Hesder Yeshiva. Defense Minister Ehud Barak accused the yeshiva;s head, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, of encouraging conscientious objection and protests by religious soldiers.
In a letter to the Hesder yeshiva heads Schneller wrote that even according to Jewish Law, the Chief Military Rabbi is the exclusive authority for religious soldiers in active duty.
In order to avoid future crises, he added, the IDF rabbis would be well advised to discuss the matters that are on their table with the Hesder yeshiva heads and the heads of the pre-military academies.
Deputy Minister Leah Ness (Likud) said Saturday evening that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should announce that his bureau will be managing the crisis with the Hesder yeshivas.
"Before it is too late – transfer the management of the Hesder yeshivas to your bureau,” she exhorted Netanyahu. “The Hesder yeshivas are an important and central pillar of the Zionist-religious public in Israel.”
"It seems that the Defense Minister is motivated by external political expediencies,” Ness said. “Because of the sensitivity of the subject and before things get worse, the Prime Minister should transfer the matter of the Hesder yeshivas to his office.”
The heads of Israel's Hesder Yeshivas will convene for an emergency discussion Sunday at the Shapira Center in the Or Etzion Hesder Yeshiva.
The heads of the Hesder Yeshiva Federation will update the yeshiva heads on the latest contacts with the Ministry of Defense. The forum will discuss taking further steps in order to change the Defense Minister's decision.