After being recorded declaring at the home of strategist Yossi Rosenbaum that he would not allow Torah scholars to be harmed: Defense Minister Yisrael Katz admitted today (Saturday night) to the failure of sending draft orders to the ultra-Orthodox unilaterally - and flattened the principles of the draft law that he presented to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
In a statement issued by Katz, the reporter said: "The principles of the conscription law that I presented to the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee are based on two central elements - setting goals for meaningful military service by the Haredi public in the IDF, including clear sanctions in the event of failure to meet the conscription goals, alongside preserving and preventing harm to the Jewish Torah world, which is an important element of our existence here as a Jewish state."
The minister clarified: "Only by following these two principles together can a historic change be made and a draft law be passed with broad national consensus that will lead to the rapid integration of thousands and tens of thousands of members of the ultra-Orthodox public as fighters and combat supporters in the IDF - which so desperately needs additional manpower in the regular and reserve ranks."
The Minister of Defense emphasized: "Every other method that has been tried so far, including sending orders unilaterally, has failed and leads to a bleak reality in which only a few percent of the Haredim serve in the IDF."
He addressed the attacks on him following the documentary: "Anyone who wants to attack and divide, instead of embracing, uniting and finding a real solution - my part will not be with him. These are the positions that I express everywhere, and any attempt to distort and distort them will not succeed."
In another message, he wrote: "For those who have difficulty understanding what is written - of course I did not write that I am against sending the orders sent by the IDF according to the existing law - but rather I mentioned the fact that today only a few percent are enlisting and that the solution is a law of conscription by consent that will lead to significant conscription of thousands of Haredim into the IDF, while preserving the Jewish Torah world."
The minister's announcement came two days after he was recorded at a 'Purim Banquet' declaring that "the Jewish Torah world can never be harmed."
In a discussion held in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last Monday about the conscription law, Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, who is responsible for the conscription of the Haredim in the IDF, said: "Starting Thursday, 14,000 additional conscription orders will be sent to the Haredim" - in three waves: on Thursday, the first wave in which 5,000 orders were sent, on April 6, another 5,000, and on May 4, an additional 4,000 orders will be sent.
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