Students urge action to exclude draft-dodgers

No response was reported from the government.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The students' association at the Netanya Academic College has taken the unprecedented step of urging the government to adopt regulations designed to keep draft-dodgers out of academic institutions, reports www.local.co.il. The association called on the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to adopt a set of regulations that would see students aged under 21 who have not completed their military or national service being barred from acceptance into tertiary institutions. According to the report, students' association head Yossi Makluf said it was "insufferable" that 34 percent of young Israelis were evading military or national service, and that this was causing an "annoying lack of equality" between those who did their service and those who did not. Makluf said it was unfair that those who evaded service were able to work and save money for three years while those who completed their service placed themselves in danger for the country, lost three years of their lives and then had difficulties catching up financially. He also said this inequality extended to reserve duty, with the draft-dodgers causing a heavy burden of reserve duty to fall unfairly on tertiary students who had completed their service. Makluf said the students were angry over the way the government was ignoring this issue. "Even though generally Netanya stars in the percentage of positive conscripts it sends to the IDF compared with other cities, it was important to us, those who carry the burden for parasites from other cities, to shout out about this," Makluf said. He said that just as mayors of cities around the country had agreed not to allow draft-dodgers to perform at public events, so too could the government exclude them from tertiary institutions. He emphasized that the ban would not apply to those who had been unable to serve. No response was reported from the government.