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NEWS
MK Rabbi Eichler Says Israeli Civil Service Barred to
Chareidim
by Eliezer Rauchberger
"The public sector in this country is totally barred to
chareidi workers; various unusual requirements are imposed to
prevent their entry," said MK Rabbi Yisroel Eichler,
presenting the Knesset plenum with a proposal to redress the
issue.
"Seated around the government table are people smoking Cuban
cigars and farmers who employ foreign workers and make their
living from state funds, and do not know what the people
want," said Eichler. "The people do not want benefits and
allotments. The people want bread and work, but they also
want the holders of capital in power not to steal taxes and
exploitive fees used to fund ministers and officials who live
at the public's expense. The state has a great deal of
expendable bureaucracy, but like in a Soviet state,
everything goes merely to justify the enormous apparatus. The
public apparatus does everything to insure that only the
elite are able to gain admission, and so for decades Jews
from the Orient, chareidim and Arabs have not been able to
get accepted. [The Civil Service] insures that every external
job offer has an academic- degree requirement, while for
internal job announcements there is no need for such a
degree. All this is to prevent the crisis sectors from
entering, and when they are allowed entry, it is only for
simple positions and not in the upper ranks. It is
understandable that a physician must present an academic
degree, but why should a medical administrative position
require this?"
During his speech he added that the media fulfills its task
of bringing the cry of the poor, but if mothers with large
families were to come, "Would they also be accepted? Because
of one's status as a mother to a large family would the
Finance Minister push off trips abroad? There can be no doubt
that eventually there will be no alternative other than to
institute food stamps. If hungry people are not given food
stamps there will be an uprising. In other countries the
people would have risen up and demonstrated long ago over
such a gap between the rich and the poor."
In response, Finance Minister Meir Shetreet said, "The Civil
Service is not barred to the chareidi public and numerous
chareidi workers are already actively employed in the Civil
Service." He went on to say, "An academic education is
required for acceptance in most professional positions in the
Civil Service. Since many members of the chareidi public do
not have an academic education these individuals cannot vie
for job announcements that include an academic education
among their minimal entry requirements. But any individual
who meets the minimal entry requirements can vie for jobs in
the Civil Service regardless of his beliefs or way of
life."
Many have argued that the years of training in yeshiva are
the equivalent of an academic degree where specific expertise
in a particular area is not required.
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