Shas to fight bill that would help find women draft dodgers

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party is expected to appeal a bill that would help identify women who falsely claim to be religious in order to avoid mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces.

The new law is meant to allow the IDF to immediately recruit girls who falsely report their status. But Shas ministers blamed the Ministerial Committee for Legislation last week for carrying out "underhanded" opportunism. They said the panel voted on the proposal without the knowledge of Haredi parties in order to keep them from rejecting the bill.

Minister without portfolio Meshulam Nahari will present his objection to the law to the government ministers at a cabinet meeting on Sunday. He is expected to say that, "The bill may hurt the status of many girls, even if they meet the necessary conditions for the exemption."

The Shas party was angry that the bill proposal was not coordinated with it and also voiced fury over the fact that the discussion of the girls' level of observance did not take place in front of a representative of the military rabbinate.