How Serious Is Israel's Right Wing Government About Drafting Haredim? Not Very, It Seems

Despite a February High Court of Justice ruling that struck down the near-blanket draft exemptions given to haredi yeshiva students, the government has not consulted any experts who could help it draft haredim.

Merav Michaeli writes in Ha'aretz:

…At the end of 2011 the military sociology section of the Israeli Sociology Society, together with the Open University, conducted a simulation in which I had the privilege of participating. It presented a model for a different type of military draft. Thus, even before the Tal Law was declared unconstitutional in February of this year, different draft models and their ramifications were being debated.

Participants in the simulation included sociologists whose entire careers had been devoted to studying the structure, context, and social significance of the military: Prof. Yagil Levy, Prof. Stuart Cohen, Dr. Orna Sasson-Levy, Dr. Zev Lehrer − as well as experts on Haredi and Arab societies. But not a single decision maker or policymaker was present; neither the IDF Personnel Directorate nor the Defense Ministry director general’s office responded to the invitations they’d been sent.

Last week, the same forum conducted a seminar that examined alternatives for drafting Haredim, following the cancellation of the Tal Law on August 1. Once again, not one official from either the government or the IDF was present. Even if we were to argue that these officials have no time for conferences, it’s still inconceivable that not one of all the above-mentioned experts has ever been invited by a government or security official to contribute his or her knowledge, or to offer an opinion on the issue of IDF conscription. Not before the Tal Law was struck down and not after.

…[A]t the beginning of August, Defense Minister Ehud Barak…appointed a team to draw up alternatives to the Tal Law. A parallel team was set up in the IDF Personnel Directorate, according to the report. Neither team includes any experts from academia as members.…

Comments

[seymour]

Haredim and the ultra Orthodox seem to pissing off people in many different countries

[Jeff]

Despite a February High Court of Justice ruling that struck down the near-blanket draft exemptions given to haredi yeshiva students, the government has not consulted any experts who could help it draft haredim.

Shmarya, to be fair, the only people of whom I'm aware who are 'expert" at getting Haredim to do things they don't want to do are their rebbaim - and they don't want them to do it!

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

Very simple: There are two main reasons nothing will get done:

Number 1: Israel needs to attack Iran. In order to do that, the security cabinet needs to approve the attack. The security cabinet (with 9 members) is split 4/4 with 1 member undecided. Minister Yishai of the Shas party is against the attack, and Netanyahu and Barak desperately need Yishai to change his mind within the next few weeks if the attack is to take place before the US election in November.

Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, who effectively controls Yishai's vote in teh security cabinet, has been visited many times over the past few weeks to convince him to change his mind. And he said this: No vote until you exempt all yeshiva students from the army.

Let's see how this plays out.

Number 2: If the haredim are drafted, the Arabs will have to be drafted too. And nobody wants to go there. Therefore, no one will be drafted.

[BabySteps]

How Serious Is Israel's Righ Wing Government About Drafting Haredim? Not Very, It Seems

I thought that everyone agreed that nothing would happen. Why the surprise?

Too many people involved in a situation that has been going on for too long of a period of time. Change will only come about incremently and such a change has not been put out on the table as of yet.

[Yerachmiel Lopin]

I don't think anyone will know what will happen if the draft is enforced. Naturally at first there will be a few who will go and some who will riot. But no one really knows how many haredi teens will be delighted to have an escape route.

If the state sticks to its guns eventually most who are called up will go and that is when the interesting questions come up. No one really knows how many will turn into adequate soldiers. Some will doubtlessly excell and others will doubtlessly be dead weight. But the important question is the proportions and nobody knows.

For that matter, no one knows how many will stay haredi after their term of service is over.

This is in some ways a fascinating social experiment. I am dying to see the outcome.