Last update - 00:00 12/03/2008
Shas slams IDF plan to decrease Haredi exemption from army
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
The Shas political party slammed an Israel Defense Forces initiative Wednesday which aims to decrease the number of Haredi exemptions from the army for religious reasons, maintaining it is an "illegal" act.
A senior IDF officer said on Wednesday that the number of Israeli citizens who are exempt from IDF service for religious reasons will decrease in the coming years as a result of intensive negotiations between the IDF and the heads of various religious factions.
The officer maintained that the IDF aims to bring a sharp decrease in the number of those exempt from army service because of religious reasons to five percent in the next 10 years. Currently, almost 100 percent of Haredi males do not enlist because of religious reasons, which constitutes 11.5 percent of each year's overall enlistment.
In response to the IDF statement, Shas sources said that "the whole issue of minimizing the religious arrangement is an illegal procedure."
Sources told Haaretz that Shas chairman- Employment, Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai- discussed the issue of exemption from the IDF for yeshiva youth with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and with Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week, and it was concluded that the current arrangement would not change.
Sources in Shas said that the recent report coming from IDF senior officers has no basis. "Since every decision in the military needs approval from the defense minister, it is advisable that the statement regarding decreasing the numbers of those receive exemptions should not been released," they said.
In March, 800 yeshiva students are due to enlist in the IDF, and will be placed in combat positions throughout various infantry brigades.
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