Jerusalem – Israeli army goes for compromise to counter rabbis who order yeshiva students to maintain no contact with IDF

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that the Israeli army was willing to create a “women-free and secular-free” environment for yeshiva students arriving to recruitment centers to receive their service exemption.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (known as “haredim”) have been exempt from service since the founding of the state, but their draft exemption has long remained a controversial issue in Israel.

A faction of Jerusalem rabbis, led by Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, demanded that the recruitment centers will “adjusted to the needs” of yeshiva students, who are used to an environment segregated from women and secularism of all sorts.

The “(ultra-Orthodox) candidates’ arrival has been adjusted to their needs on a long series of issues, in order to allow us to implement the processes of (Israeli army) enlistment, service postponement and granting an exemption,” Ya’alon was quoted by Israeli website Ynet as saying.

Ya’alon also expressed he is willing to make “further compromises” to calm down the situation, as tensions between the ultra-Orthodox public and the Israeli establishment have been high, including massive demonstrations, chiefly in Jerusalem.

Some of the sector’s leaders, Ynet reported, have ordered yeshiva students to make no contact with the army, not reporting to recruitment centers even just to receive exemption.

In March, the Israeli parliament voted through a law which will compel ultra-Orthodox Jews to either serve in the military or perform national civilian service.

The new legislation stipulates that ultra-Orthodox men must either join the army or perform civilian service, in a law which will go into force in 2017.

The law also includes a clause stipulating sanctions against draft dodgers — including imprisonment — in a move which has enraged the ultra-Orthodox leadership who said it would be tantamount to jailing people for practicing their faith.

Military service is compulsory in Israel, with men serving three years and women two.