Israel – Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef renewed his rejection of mandatory service for Haredi religious men in the Israeli army on Tuesday.
The Chief Rabbi of Israel, leader of the Eastern Jewish community, said in a new statement: “Whoever receives the conscription order should tear it up.”
Yitzhak Yosef added, “If he is imprisoned, the head of the yeshiva will come to teach him in prison.”
The Chief Rabbi urged his community to disobey the summons and told them: “Do not go.”
In a video clip published by the “Ynet” website, the Chief Rabbi of Israel was heard speaking once morest the recruitment of extremist members into the Israeli army: “It will not succeed.. and it is in the Torah.. every son of the Torah is exempt from going to the army, even those who are unemployed and do not study.”
In the video, Rabbi Yosef said he visited wounded soldiers and also toured a surrender base where he met with religious and some non-religious soldiers.
“All the best to the army for their efforts, and we appreciate what they are doing,” he says in the clip. “But without the Torah, where would we end up? Instead of giving more budgets to yeshivas, they send out draft orders.”
On Tuesday, the Ynet website revealed that the Israeli army will call up thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredi) for military service early next week, despite ongoing protests once morest the decision.
He explained that “the army believes that sending out summons orders will enable it to recruit the required numbers and that it cannot rely only on those who want to enlist voluntarily.”
On June 25, the Supreme Court decided to oblige the Haredim to enlist in the army, and to prevent financial aid from religious institutions whose students refuse military service.
On Tuesday evening, the Haredim held a protest in the city of Bnei Brak (central), whose population is mostly Haredim, to express their rejection of military service.
The Haredim make up regarding 13 percent of Israel’s population of regarding 9.9 million.
The Haredim do not serve in the army and say they devote their lives to studying the Torah in schools and yeshivas to preserve the people’s identity.
The law requires every Israeli man and woman over the age of 18 to serve in the military. The exclusion of the “Haredim” from service has sparked controversy over the past decades, but their failure to serve in the military, coinciding with the ongoing war on Gaza and the losses of the Israeli army, has increased the intensity of the controversy, as secular parties demand that the religious participate in “bearing the burdens of war.”
Source: RT + Hebrew website “ynet”
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2024-07-18 04:03:07
