Government forms National Service Administration
New administration to encourage those who do not serve in IDF to volunteer for Sherut Leumi. Administration named new branch of Prime Minister's Office, still awaits funds
A new branch was formed in the Prime Minister's Office Sunday: the National Service Administration (NSA), aimed at encouraging those who do not serve in the IDF to volunteer for national service (Sherut Leumi)
The administration further means to offer those who volunteer for one year or more a $1,600 service bonus upon their release – the same as the one given to IDF soldiers.
The NSA is expected to recruit 500 volunteersin its first year, paying them the same salary non-combat soldiers receive – about $120 a month.
National Service Reform
Moran Zelikovich
Education minister launches new project in which she aspires to integrate Arab sector into national service, which usually serves as an alternative volunteer framework for religious sector instead of military service
Dr Reuven Gal, former chief IDF psychologist , and head of the new administration, thinks forming the NSA would help form a new state of mind in Israeli society, in which national service would enjoy the same social ranking as military service.
Those who volunteer, said Gal, will find themselves working for the community in a variety of fields, such as caring for Holocaust survivors.
"This is a classic assignment for the national service and we'll have several hundred volunteers doing that" said Gal, adding several hundred others will work with the National Road Safety Authority.
The new administration will not condone dodging IDF service and will accept "only those who were fully exempt from military service," said Gal, adding the new recruits will join the 10,000 volunteers serving in national service today.
However, some of the sectors the NSA is aiming for, such as the Arab and the religious ones, might prove to be a tough nut to crack.
Many in the religious community discourage national service, and some of the Arab community's leaders are flat out against it, but the differences, as Gal sees them, can be overcome by allowing Arab volunteers to serve in their own communities and religious ones in places their rabbis would approve of.
The NSA still faces a financing problem: while all the plans have been put in place, it has not received any of the $1.2 million necessary to start its recruitment process.
Gal, however, remains optimistic: the recently approved 2008 government budget allocated the funds needed, he said, adding the public response to a recent trial recruitment was three times higher than expected.
Dr Reuven Gal
Photo: GPO
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