"I want to know how a spiritual and religious leader can sign off on false declarations," an indignant Brig. Gen. Gadi Agmon told a Knesset committee earlier this week, referring to yeshiva heads who falsely declare that haredi men are full time Torah students when they are, in fact, working off the books in gray and black market jobs. “…there are thousands [of haredim] who don't study in yeshivas but we have no mechanism with which to identify them and compel them to enlist [in the army],” Agmon continued.
Haredi Yeshiva Heads Lying To Help Haredim Dodge The Draft, IDF Says
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
For what is probably the first time ever, a high ranking Israel Defense Forces officer has admitted that the IDF knows what many of us know – haredi rabbis have been helping haredim dodge mandatory military service by lying about their yeshiva attendance, Israel HaYom reported.
"I want to know how a spiritual and religious leader can sign off on false declarations," an indignant Brig. Gen. Gadi Agmon told a Knesset committee earlier this week, referring to yeshiva heads who falsely declare that haredi men are full time Torah students when they are, in fact, working off the books in gray and black market jobs. “…there are thousands [of haredim] who don't study in yeshivas but we have no mechanism with which to identify them and compel them to enlist [in the army],” Agmon continued.
The law that granted haredim exemption from military service – and which is now being replaced by a more universal draft law that does not grant haredim a blanket exemption from the military – specifically only exempted full time yeshiva students. Other haredim were supposed to serve.
Agmon is the head of planning in the IDF Personnel Directorate and the representative of the IDF on the Knesset committee structuring that new draft law.
Agmon left unsaid something that is also true.
Haredi yeshiva heads often steal money from government by taking government subsidies for full time students who are, in reality, working off the books.
Nonetheless, Agmon’s remark shocked the haredi members of the committee who reacted by attacking the government and by insisting that they back the draft for all haredim who are not full time students, no matter what Agmon claimed.
And then former Housing Minister MK Ariel Atias from the Sefardi haredi Shas Party justified physical attacks on haredi solders by fellow haredim by blaming the government for instigating them and descended into the truly absurd.
"There is a consensus among all the haredi MKs in this room not to defend those who don't study. Anyone who doesn't study should enlist. The average haredi truly respects those who serve in the IDF. The problem begins when we are expected to change our lifestyle. Before this bill was submitted, the campaign against national religious haredim [a snide term for haredim who serve in the IDF] did not exist, and haredi soldiers could walk around without getting harassed [by other haredim] in their neighborhoods. The truth needs to be told: A haredi man who enlists before the age of 21 will have trouble finding a wife,” Atias, who stands accused of illegally diverting millions of dollars in government housing benefits to haredim, said.
MK Tzachi Hanegbi of the combined Likud-Beytenu Party reacted angrily to Atias' remark.
"A secular soldier who falls in battle will also have trouble finding a wife,” Hanegbi fumed.
The new military draft bill is expected to be brought to the Knesset floor for its final vote this fall.