Inequity under the guise of equality

Hiddush slams the Shaked Committee's final product: the exact of opposite of equality in sharing the burden

As the Shaked Committee's law proposal for the Haredi draft makes its way to the Knesset plenum, Hiddush continues to point out the government coalition's misunderstanding of equality.

09/03/2014 16:35

Tags: equality in sharing the burden ·  shaked comittee ·  haredi draft

Hiddush- Freedom of Religion for Israel criticized the Shaked Committee's final proposal for the Equality in Sharing the Burden Law to initiate the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. The law proposal was finalized by the committee headed by Habayit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked and will be presented to the Knesset Plenum on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 for the second and third readings required in order to make the proposal into a binding law.

Hiddush CEO Rabbi Uri Regev emphasized that "this isn't a law for equality in service, but will continue to exempt the haredi sector from army service. After close to a year of debate around the issue, the government coalition succeeded in created a law that is much worse than the Tal Law, which originally granted the yeshiva students army exemptions. It turns out that the current government coalition believes in a virtual reality in which it doesn't matter that there's no actual equality in sharing the burden, it's only important to talk about it as if equality exists."

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The law proposal has come under fire from Hiddush and a wide variety of organizations and leaders, cutting across denominational and political lines because of its expected failure to achieve equality in sharing the burden. Some of the main claims against the proposal stem from its delayed implementation of compulsory service (four years after the passing of the law), which will grant sweeping exemptions and the intended criminal sanctions which would further raise tensions between the haredi sector and the rest of Israeli society.

The government coalition achieved an impressive accomplishment by preparing a law that will not draft a single yeshiva student, yet has already succeeded in convening 300,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews to protest in Jerusalem.

"The only result that will come from this law proposal is that in the coming years, 30,000 yeshiva students will receive complete army exemption," Rabbi Regev claimed. "The government coalition achieved an impressive accomplishment by preparing a law that will not draft a single yeshiva student, yet has already succeeded in convening 300,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews to protest in Jerusalem. It's difficult to count the amount of flaws in the law. 'Compulsory' service will only take place in four years alongside the currently massive and full exemptions, enlistment at age 21, and above all criminal sanctions that have no chance for implementation."

In preparation for this week's vote on the law proposal, Rabbi Regev called on the Knesset plenum to refuse to approve this damaging law and send it back to the Shaked Committee for serious revisions.