1.
On April 1, 2024, it was determined that the Conscription Law was null and void as of June 1, 2023, and from that time on, all yeshiva students and kollel avrahim between the ages of 18 and 26 are required to enlist in the IDF, since the deferral of service granted to them by virtue of the law has expired. As a result, the High Court of Justice granted an interim order to terminate support for students of Torah institutions who are required to enlist in the IDF.
This concerns 66,000 young Haredi men who have been on standby since then, while on the one hand, the IDF is not taking any steps to recruit them - or alternatively, exempt them from military service. On the other hand, due to the High Court ruling, the avrechim have stopped receiving the Ministry of Religious Affairs scholarship and the yeshivas are not receiving budgets for students who are required to enlist.
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A dream, it's here and now.
2.
Listen to a story.
This is a kollel avrechid who had already turned 26, but on the date the law expired, he was a few weeks short of 26. (Today, he is exactly 27 years old.) As such, he was included in the list of avrechids who are required to be drafted. Following the Attorney General's order and the High Court of Justice's decision, for the past two months he has not been eligible to receive the Ministry of Religious Affairs scholarship of several hundred shekels.
On Tuesday of this week, the young man called the KCOM. A woman answered the phone.
Here is the hallucinatory conversation:
Soldier: How can I help?
The Abraach: I want to find out what my status is.
Soldier: What does that mean?
The Abraha: Am I exempt? Am I not exempt? What...?
Soldier: Right now you have no exemption, the conscription law has been repealed and we are all obligated to conscript. Unless there is a different decision.
The old man: Okay, what should I do?
Soldier: Right now you have to wait for them to summon you for the first order. Or for other procedures. For recruitment procedures.
Abraha: Why don't you come to join the army now?
Soldier: You don't have a draft date yet, so it's like...
Havrach: No, I'll tell you why. Because I followed the High Court hearing and it was as if they said I had to physically come to you and enlist.
Soldier: Once you're qualified for a profile classification or a first order or something like that, then it will be possible. Right now you're not qualified for anything yet.
Abraach: They didn't issue me a summons, right?
Soldier: Not yet.
3.
Even though he was not summoned to the KCOM, and even though he only signed the "deferral" form last February, he has not received the scholarship he would have received from the Ministry of Religious Affairs for two months.
In a hearing held this week in the High Court of Justice on petitions demanding the conscription of yeshiva students, one of the lawyers asked: What happens if a young Haredi decides to show up on his own initiative? One of the judges replied: This is only theoretical, it has not happened.
The message to the ultra-Orthodox 10: "What's going on here? If I'm obligated to enlist - then draft me for military service. If I'm not obligated or you're unable to draft me - then let me go and then I'll receive the scholarship from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.".
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Currently, tens of thousands of avrechim and yeshiva students are in a state of ignorance. No one has summoned them to the Kakum, so even if they wanted to enlist, they cannot. But on the other hand, they are marked as those whom the legal advisor is now seeking to deprive of property tax reductions and discounts in children's dormitories.
Makes sense? Not really.
3.
The meaning is simple: the IDF is not prepared, and probably does not want to recruit Haredim.
Here is what former Minister Haim Ramon wrote last night:
""About two months ago, the Knesset Research and Information Center published a document with all the numbers about recruitment rates by population group. Of all the fascinating data, there was one statistic in particular that made my jaw drop: in the five months after October 7, about 4,000 young Haredi men submitted, on their own initiative, applications for recruitment into the IDF.
Want to know what the IDF, whose leaders constantly talk about the 'urgent' need for manpower after October 7, did with them? 3,120 young Haredi men were found to be "unfit", mostly due to medical incompetence. Has the army stopped recruiting low-profile soldiers for combat support units, intelligence, training, computers and home front command?
And that's not even the worst. Of the 880 young ultra-Orthodox men who were found eligible, only 540 were drafted. In other words, out of the 4,000 young ultra-Orthodox men who applied to enlist, the IDF drafted only 13.51%, and even of the ultra-Orthodox men who were determined eligible for service, only 611% were drafted.
""These numbers reinforce the thesis that the army is not prepared for mass recruitment of Haredim and actually does not want it," Ramon insists.
4.
In a conversation with IDF officials, they say that since there is no legal source for avoiding the recruitment of yeshiva students, the IDF is preparing to recruit the Haredi public, and to significantly expand the number of invitees to the recruitment offices and the selection processes if necessary, without harming the selection and recruitment process of all recruits.
The same sources say that the headquarters is currently working to formulate a plan for the gradual recruitment of members of the Haredi public, including discussions led by the Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff, and senior security officials, as well as various professional teams.
According to them, the plan also includes creating additional units and tracks and adapting existing tracks, in a way that will allow for the effective integration of additional recruits from the ultra-Orthodox community.
We turned to the IDF spokesman - and asked: Why doesn't the IDF send a draft order to the Abrechs and yeshiva students? And if it doesn't - why won't the service deferral status continue for a year, as has been the practice until now?
IDF Spokesperson's Response: ""The IDF is the people's army and acts on a state-wide basis to recruit populations liable for conscription, in accordance with the Defense Service Law. The IDF has a wide range of service targets for the ultra-Orthodox and is currently preparing to expand the absorption of candidates for defense service who no longer hold a service deferral.".
""A person designated for security service who does not have a valid order to defer service is required to report to the recruitment office in order to receive a summons to complete the processes and a subsequent recruitment date.".
It should be noted that the IDF's response contradicts the conversation with the dispatcher at the KOM that we presented.
