The Knesset Legislating Committee, despite opposition by chareidi Knesset factions, decided to back a government-sponsored bill to set up an apparatus to monitor young women who request military deferments based on religious grounds.
Following the Legislating Committee's move, Finance Ministry Chairman MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni said this is a serious violation of the status quo and the faction would consider how it would campaign to stop the bill.
The bill would provide a system to follow up on young women who declare they are religious to avoid induction. Education Minister Gidon Saar told the Committee the law must be changed, saying it was drafted three-and-a-half years ago. The Ministerial Committee was not even willing to postpone the deliberations for a few days, despite a request by United Torah Judaism.
With regard to women serving in the Israeli armed forces, the chareidi community is against all women serving, whether or not they are religious. Even though the law only exempts religious women, chareidi politicians always worked to keep its application as broad as possible.
This is in contrast to the chareidi position on the service of men in the armed forces. Maran HaRav Eliashiv has said that our responsibility is to see to it that those who are involved in full-time learning should not be called to the army. We do not object to the service of others in the army, and many chareidi men do serve.
