Yair Lapid lambasted the chief rabbi’s remarks on Sunday, stating, “Rabbi Yosef's words are an insult and disgrace to the IDF soldiers who risk their lives to defend the country."
Certainly, haredi enlistment can be promoted, and people can be convinced of its value, but coercion is doomed to fail from the outset.
"The yeshivas and kollels hold up the world. The state exists on Torah study, and without the Torah, the army would not have succeeded."
The 47-year-old pact, whereby ultra-Orthodoxy got wholesale draft exemptions, budgets, and subsidies in turn for joining Likud’s coalitions will next month come to an end.
The Israel Prison Service recruited the 12 haredi national servicemen as part of their non-military national service.
Halevi said, "we promise at all times that our victims, those who have fallen, will not have been in vain. There is no other way to do this other than to be drafted for substantial service."
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