IDF recruitment base
Photo: Niv Calderon
New plan to double haredi enlistment
Gov't to vote Sunday on plan asking yeshiva students to choose between IDF, civil service
The government will be asked to approve on Sunday a new plan that is expected to double the number of haredim serving in the army and civil service within the next five years.
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There are currently some 5,500 18-year old yeshiva students in Israel, and in 2015 there are expected to be around 7,400. The team that assembled the plan hopes that 65% of this public will have performed some form of service by age 28.
As their service, the students will be able to choose between the IDF, police, Prison Service, firefighters, paramedics, and other rescue services.
The plan also cancels a resolution passed in near total secrecy last summer, which states that ultra-Orthodox men over the age of 22 will be released from service if they have two kids or more. The resolution was aimed at promoting the incorporation of these men into the workforce, but the IDF opposed it.
Now, according to the plan, haredim aged 22-23 will be referred to service in the security forces, whereas those who have children will be sent to regular civil service.
In addition, the inter-ministerial team in charge of the plan recommends including haredim in reserve forces from age 28, rather than 30, as currently stands.
The team says the plan will not "significantly harm" the willingness of haredim to enlist in the offered tracks, but rather "speed up their inclusion in the workforce, thus increasing equality and their part in the economic burden".
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