Barak vows to fight IDF refusal, without cutting yeshiva funds
Defense Min.: Government should mull steps to take against hesder yeshiva rabbis who preach refusal.
By Haaretz Service Tags: Israel newsDefense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday evening vowed to crack down on Israel Defense Forces soldiers who refuse orders, saying he would aim to do so without cutting government funding to yeshivas.
"If it is possible to straighten this out without closing the taps in hesder yeshivas, that would be better," Barak said, referring to the Jewish seminaries that combine religious studies with military service.
But he added that the government should consider steps to take against hesder yeshiva rabbis who preach refusal.
Barak's comments came in the wake of a number of incidents involving IDF soldiers protesting their units' task of evacuating unauthorized West Bank outpost, marking a shift in right-wing activity from attacks on Palestinians to protest in army ranks.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that such refusal would contribute to the collapse of the State of Israel.
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and for the state to fund them is not only ill-advised, it's idiotic! the only one purpose for a school that mixes religious teachings with military service is an ideological one... and it SHOULD be a given that, for their students, loyalty to the state will fall second to that of the ideology taught at the schools. seeds are being planted in the idf which will surely to grow to become cancerous if the situation is left unchecked... and israel is helping to fund their sowing?
Interesting that nobody threatened legal action when Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) encouraged soldiers to disobey orders by refusing to serve over the green line.