'C'tee to present Tal Law proposal within days'

Plesner says he asked PM, Mofaz for meeting to present report, is confident proposal will offer framework to distribute service burden.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Haredi man, IDF ceremony Tal Law Keshev IDF390 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Haredi man, IDF ceremony Tal Law Keshev IDF390
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
MK Yohanan Plesner on Monday said he notified Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the Plesner Committee tasked with finding a replacement for the Tal Law, will finish its work in the coming days and present a report with its proposal.
Plesner, who is chairing the committee, said he asked for a meeting with Netanyahu and Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz in order to present the report.
"I trust and am confident the professional and thorough work that was done will offer a responsible and official framework that permits an answer to the just demand for a more balanced distribution for bearing the burden," he said.
Speaking earlier at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu said he believes the burden of national and military service must be carried equally by all Israeli citizens, including the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs.
"I am committed to a more equitable division of the burden," Netanyahu said in the closed-door session. "I believe that equality in bearing the burden must include all citizens of Israel – both the ultra-orthodox public and the Arab public – and I believe that there is a way to achieve this."
Committee Chairman Ronnie Bar-On said that the Israeli public expects and deserves a brave decision on the matter.
Such a decision, he said, will be painful but "it must be balanced and it must be
clear to all that it is necessary."
"Nobody involved on this issue is motivated by a desire to take revenge on this or that sector, or by hatred, but by the dictates of reality and socio-economic need." Bar-On added.
Mofaz decided Sunday to postpone a planned visit to the UK and France to personally attend to the Keshev Committee crisis, after the committee's haredi representative quit over the issue of personal sanctions against ultra-Orthodox who do not perform service. He joined the Yisrael Beytenu and Habayit Hayehudi representatives who quit the committee last week.
Jeremy Sharon and Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.