After intensive intervention by Israel’s haredi Deputy Health Minister
Yaakov Litzman and haredi MK Moshe Gafne, the IDF’s Chief of Personnel
Major-General Orna Barvibai has agreed to allow haredi inductees to have
their induction medical exam conducted by their family physician at the
physician’s private office rather than by army physicians at induction
centers to avoid "modesty issues."
IDF Agrees To Allow Haredim To Have Induction Physicals Done By Their Private Doctors To Avoid ‘Immodesty’ Of Induction Centers; IDF Reportedly Begins To Arrest Draft Dodgers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
After intensive intervention by Israel’s haredi Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and haredi MK Moshe Gafne, the IDF’s Chief of Personnel Major-General Orna Barvibai has agreed to allow haredi inductees to have their induction medical exam conducted by their family physician at the physician’s private office rather than by army physicians at induction centers, Yeshiva World reported.
An inductee can, if he chooses, opt to have the medical exam done by an IDF physician in an induction center. However, according to the agreement, it must be done by a male physician only.
Haredi rabbis were upset that a small minority of the physicians who examine inductees are allegedly women, and even though the IDF denied that any haredi inductees were forced to undergo an exam conducted by one of them, rumors spread throughout the haredi community that yeshiva students had, in fact, been probed by female physicians.
The rabbis were also angered because the medical exams include physical testicular palpatation to check for hernias and testicular cancer. The rabbis apparently consider this to be immodest, even if the doctor is a male.
Now that the IDF has removed the latest reason for haredi draftees to refuse to come into the induction offices and get their initial medical exams and workups, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe is now allowing yeshiva students to report for the initial process. Previously, he had banned yeshiva students from reporting and had dared the IDF, military police and Israeli police and security officials to arrest him.
Military Police are reportedly in the process of tracking down inductees who fail to report to an induction center for pre-military processing as ordered, Yeshiva World reports, and an growing number of draft dodgers have been arrested and incarcerated.