Google – AFP, 12 March 2014
Jerusalem —
Israeli MPs on Wednesday voted through a law which will compel ultra-Orthodox
Jews to either serve in the military or perform national civilian service.
The bill
was voted through by 65 to 1 in a poll broadcast on Israel's parliamentary
television channel.
The lone
dissenting vote was cast by an MP from the far-right Jewish Home who broke
coalition discipline to oppose the law. Opposition parties within the 120-seat
parliament had earlier announced they would not participate in the vote.
The cabinet
last year agreed to end a practice under which tens of thousands of
ultra-Orthodox were exempted from military service if they were in full-time
study at a Jewish seminary, or yeshiva.
The new
legislation stipulates that ultra-Orthodox men must either join the army or
perform civilian service, in a law which will go into force in 2017.
The law
also includes a clause stipulating sanctions against draft dodgers -- including
imprisonment -- in a move which has enraged the ultra-Orthodox leadership who
said it would be tantamount to jailing people for practising their faith.
Military
service is compulsory in Israel, with men serving three years and women two.
Earlier
this month, more than 300,000 ultra-Orthodox took to the streets of Jerusalem
in a mass prayer vigil to protest against the impending legislation.
The new law
is seen by many Israelis as amending the historic injustice of an exemption
handed to the ultra-Orthodox in 1948, when Israel was created. At that time
they were a small segment of society.
Because of
their high birth rate, the ultra-Orthodox community has since swelled to make
up roughly 10 percent of the country's population of just over eight million,
and continues to be the fastest-growing sector in Israel.
Related Articles:
The ultra-Orthodox make up 10 percent of Israel’s population of 7.5 million
,but are increasing rapidly amid a growing backlash to the privileges and subsidies
long granted to the ultra-religious. (Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)
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