Ultra-Orthodox Draft Law Delayed Until 2020
Image by Getty Images
Israeli lawmakers approved an amendment that further postpones the mandatory military conscription of haredi Orthodox men and removes the penalties for not enlisting.
The amendment to the Equal Service law originally passed in 2014 was approved on its second and third readings late Monday night by a vote of a 49 to 36. Lawmakers from the Joint Arab List coalition were absent for the vote.
Under the amendment, the law will not go into effect until 2020, with a second set of deadlines in 2023. The new amendment also cancels penalties against yeshiva students who do not enlist and collectively against the haredi Orthodox community if enlistment quotas are not met.
The centrist Yesh Atid party led by Yair Lapid said it would appeal the amendment to the Supreme Court.
The Tal Law, which allowed haredi men to defer army service indefinitely, was invalidated by Israel’s Supreme Court in February 2012 and expired in August that year.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
