A committee appointed by the Defense Ministry to look into the problem of low enlistment rates has come up with some politically explosive interim conclusions. The committee, headed by Gen. (res.) David Ivri, is apparently set to recommend sharp sanctions against anyone who does not either serve in the army or perform national service. The sanctions include the withdrawal of National Insurance monthly child payments, the right to receive government mortgages, and more. Young men of the hareidi sector generally receive army exemptions for studying in yeshiva [Torah seminaries] - an arrangement that will be threatened if the Ivri recommendations are accepted.
Another sector sure to object to the plan is the Arab sector. Arabs are exempt from serving in the army because of the fact that Israel's wars are against Arab countries - but according to the recommendations being worked on, they too will not receive child allowances if they don't perform a year of national service.
During the past year, only 77% of eligible 18-year-old Jews and Druze enlisted in the army. Nine percent received "Torah study" exemptions, while 14% did not enlist for health or other reasons. Those who study in yeshiva must have their exemptions renewed twice a year.
The year of "National Service" will be called "Civil Service" for the Arab sector, according to the Ivri Commission proposals, so as not to place the Arabs in the "difficult" position of serving in a "national" framework. Both Arabs and hareidim will likely be able to serve in their own communities.
Maariv newspaper reports that though Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Mofaz have received the recommendations, they are not likely to publicize such politically explosive conclusions while they are trying to form a new coalition that is likely to include religious parties.
Shas Party leader MK Eli Yeshai wrote his response to the possible recommendations in Maariv today: "Moses [in demanding that the tribes who wished to settle on the eastern bank of the Jordan River must first take part in the war effort] did not demand that they obligate themselves forever to a particular form of collective support. He actually made an important sociological determination, and that is that a social contribution must be appropriate to the social group that is to contribute...
"Israel's first Prime Minister [also] understood that the hareidi contribution would not be manifest in the conventional manner, and that they must be enabled to contribute in the ways they deemed right. Today as well: Thousands of words have been written of the contributions of the hareidi public in the rescue organizations, social organizations and many other missions that they have fulfilled. But forcing them to perform national service under the threat of sanctions will only cause an opposite effect: many important Jewish missions will remain unclaimed and undone. The test must be one of results, not definitions."
Another sector sure to object to the plan is the Arab sector. Arabs are exempt from serving in the army because of the fact that Israel's wars are against Arab countries - but according to the recommendations being worked on, they too will not receive child allowances if they don't perform a year of national service.
During the past year, only 77% of eligible 18-year-old Jews and Druze enlisted in the army. Nine percent received "Torah study" exemptions, while 14% did not enlist for health or other reasons. Those who study in yeshiva must have their exemptions renewed twice a year.
The year of "National Service" will be called "Civil Service" for the Arab sector, according to the Ivri Commission proposals, so as not to place the Arabs in the "difficult" position of serving in a "national" framework. Both Arabs and hareidim will likely be able to serve in their own communities.
Maariv newspaper reports that though Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Mofaz have received the recommendations, they are not likely to publicize such politically explosive conclusions while they are trying to form a new coalition that is likely to include religious parties.
Shas Party leader MK Eli Yeshai wrote his response to the possible recommendations in Maariv today: "Moses [in demanding that the tribes who wished to settle on the eastern bank of the Jordan River must first take part in the war effort] did not demand that they obligate themselves forever to a particular form of collective support. He actually made an important sociological determination, and that is that a social contribution must be appropriate to the social group that is to contribute...
"Israel's first Prime Minister [also] understood that the hareidi contribution would not be manifest in the conventional manner, and that they must be enabled to contribute in the ways they deemed right. Today as well: Thousands of words have been written of the contributions of the hareidi public in the rescue organizations, social organizations and many other missions that they have fulfilled. But forcing them to perform national service under the threat of sanctions will only cause an opposite effect: many important Jewish missions will remain unclaimed and undone. The test must be one of results, not definitions."