Jerusalem – The IDF does not want haredim (ultra-Orthodox) in its ranks, Interior Minister and Shas head Eli Yishai said on Wednesday.
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Therefore, he does not believe that the new national unity coalition will draw up legislation to draft significantly more haredim into the army. Shas is part of that coalition.
Under the coalition agreement signed on Tuesday, the “Tal Law” will be replaced with a Kadima-drafted, government-sponsored Basic Law, with changes suggested by the Likud, requiring all citizens to perform military or civilian service.
The two parties agreed to pass a law to ensure “equal and fair distribution of the burden of IDF service between the parts of Israel’s population” by July 31, the day the Tal Law will expire by order of the High Court of Justice.
Speaking to Army Radio, Yishai repeated a claim he has made several times recently, that there are thousands of haredim waiting to be drafted into the IDF, along with thousands of haredi reservists waiting to be called up. “The IDF does not want haredim,” he said.
The minister also said that motivation in the haredi community to join the army is increasing. “We see more and more haredi youth who want to join the army, in contrast to the secular community, where the phenomenon of draft-dodging is on the rise,” he said.
“Whoever does not learn Torah should join the army,” he said.
Yishai addressed the makeup of the new government coalition.
“Of course in elections [Kadima chairman Shaul] Mofaz would have lost a significant number of mandates,” he said. “It’s not a secret that had Kadima gone to elections it would have suffered a complete breakdown.”
Nonetheless, the Shas leader said that Israelis did not want early elections and instead wanted the main political parties to unite.
Yishai said that although the new 94- MK coalition has reinforced Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s political position, he does not feel that Shas, with 11 of those lawmakers, has lost its influence.
“Netanyahu will not give Kadima everything it wants, because he knows that in the coming elections Kadima will be gone and he will need Shas and UTJ [United Torah Judaism] again,” Yishai said.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
that there are thousands of haredim waiting to be drafted into the IDF
show us them
He’s my man! Reality is the haredim aren’t wanted in the army. Mincha! Maariv! Mikva! Preparation for davening! Mussar time! Learning time! (at least one hr, morning and 1 hr, night!) Hardcore haredim, Kol isha! Histaklut! OY VEY!
Of course they dont wanr Haredim in the army. They want to draft the Haredim and have former Haredim in their army. The army is not to protect Israel, it is to brainwash Jews to transform them into Arabs. Before Herzl, Jews and Arabs lived in peace in Israel. If it were not for the racist zionist movement, there would be peace and Jew and Arab would live in peaceful coexistence as we did before the zionists invaded our Holy Eretz Yisrael.
And the chareidim don’t want to be part of the IDF. So everyone is on the same page. Hurray!
It’s always Chareidim who come out with this argument – can someone quote people from the IDF who say they don’t want Chareidim?
It’s crystal clear that if your 60000 layabouts joined the army then the burden will be spread more equally.
Mr. Yishai: if you say a lie enough times, more people will believe it, but you’re still lying!
How do you know he’s lying? His lips are moving. The IDF does want and need charedim. But even if they didn’t, charedim are asked to perform national service (nursing homes, hospitals, special ed) IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES!!!!!! I can’t wait for the day that the chareidi community makes a KIDDUSH haShem rather than a CHILUL haShem as they are presently.
I believe the issue as far as we Haredim are concerned is not so much if Haredim will or will not be drafted in the army. The issue is, why have we failed to make people realise that the Yeshivos are just as important for the survival of the Jewish people as a JEWISH people as the army. I am not denigrating the army, there is a need for body and soul for everything in this world and usually the function of the “body” is more obvious. However, not succeeding in showing the Jewish people at large including all of our brothers and sisters from all walks of life, religious or not, that the Yeshivos are fulfilling a crucial and noble role is our failure and needs to be addressed by us. This is a wake up call for all of us to look carefully at how we behave, how we lead our life and how we can and must improve.
It is true. It is a known fact that chareidim have been rejected from joining the army many times. At this point the army is already full and they don’t need the charedim with their special needs. They’d rather keep
He may be correct in his assessment. However the chareidim themselves should want to be apart of klal yisroel and defend its people and we the othodox should show the non dati how to behave and ultimately teach them the correct path. If we do so, if we actually appear to the world as a light amongst nations they themselves will desire our presence.
As to the previous comments about the racist zionists, I am amazed that you can walk and breath at the same time. Tell me you could chew gum also……