Supreme Court: "Why not recruit older yeshiva adults?"

Judges of the Supreme Court demanded this morning from Defense Minister Ehud Barak to explain why not all yeshiva students up to age 30 immediately be recruited.

During the hearing, the judges, President Asher Grunis, Vice President Miriam Naor, and Judge Edna Arbel, found out that the ministry has not made progress to begin the recruitment process of yeshiva students whose recruitment has already been postponed and whose age exceeds the age of 19.

The judges issued an order on condition that Barak must explain why he is not working to recruit them, within 30 days.

The petition was filed by the Movement for Quality Government, which demanded an injunction to mobilize all yeshiva students, but the court refused to issue an injunction on the subject.

The state's response to the High Court indicates that this summer the IDF will recruit the Yeshiva students that Torah is their 'profession', so that during the next two years around 14 thousand Haredim aged 18 and 19 will be recruited, and from 2015 they will regularly be recruiting 18 year olds.

Along with this, the IDF made it clear they do not intend to recruit 40 thousand haredi men aged 20-30 who are in the draft database. "The arrangement formulated by the IDF focuses on the present and future, not on amending the past" was the response. It was also said in response that following expiry of the Tal Law there is no distinction between regular security service and those who Torah is their profession.

In addition, the state counted a number of constraints which as a result the IDF decided not to raise the 49,000 yeshiva students until the age of 30 included in the Tal Law before it was canceled by the Supreme Court. Among the reasons: the need to regulate the service of haredim alongside women, the need to plan the integration of tens of thousands of soldiers at once, legal difficulties and the need to examine the suitability of each of the yeshiva students.

The IDF made clear that recruitment which will be made within the year will not be a full enlistment of three years but a brief recruitment service. If the issue will not regulate by the legislation, the IDF said, we will have to examine it again. Along with this, they added, they prefer not to recruit them due to limited absorption and treatment.

The IDF also noted a number of constraints that affect the upcoming recruitment service including the issue of women. "The integration of the Haredi population in the military service must be done alongside the advancement of women in the military service, and without compromising the service of women in the IDF," the response said. "A huge mobilization of yeshiva students will reduce the ability to slot them into homogeneous service frameworks and service environment that has no women. Respectively, the combination will have to be done while taking the necessary sensitivity precautions." Among other things soldiers must be provided with appropriate conditions for their lifestyle including kosher food by different approaches, lessons and seminars, support commanders and others.

In their response it was also noted that there is a need for significant preparation for a sharp change in the volume of the recruitment cycle, which takes time and consumes resources. Since the Israeli army cannot recruit anyone who received a draft rejection immediately, the preference is to recruit the young people, aged 18.

Also, the state added a response in light of the fact that the recruiting is by force, without the consent of the Haredi community. "We must prepare for the possibility that thousands of yeshiva students will refuse to appear and cooperate on this issue between the military police and the Israel Police."

According to the state, the IDF plans to integrate the yeshiva students in one of three following frames:

Three battalions of new fighters, expanding the technological route from 800 today to 1,500 soldiers next year and in 2016 -2250, and 1,000 soldiers in non – military units (police, prisons, etc.).

As to the present situation, the state reported that 800 people born from 1996 to 1995 have shown up at the recruiting centers and 200 of them have received mobilization orders for July 2013. The age group born in 1994 totals 10,500 yeshiva students, 2600 of which are deferred and will be summoned for classifying procedures in the first half of 2013. An additional 4,000 were sent and are being sent for classifying procedures which will begin this month, while the remaining 3,900 will be summoned for classifying procedures in July 2013 and will be drafted next summer.

Another petition which was attached to the Supreme Court deals with the prohibition on the state to budget the yeshivas, due to the fact that their students do not enlist in the IDF. Prosecution replied and said that Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, issued updated criteria which weighs the above requirement, and that the limitation began last August until next February.

In addition, the Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, and Minister of Science and Technology, Daniel Hershkowitz, transferred a proposal to the Government Secretary that would allow the continued absorption of Haredim in the civil service.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!