JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Minister of Culture and Sports, Miki Zohar, participated in the Israel Hayom conference on recruitment. In an interview with Amir Ettinger, the minister presented his stance on the issue of drafting charedi men:
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“The key to unity among the people of Israel — and this may be the most important thing right now — is that everyone contributes their share to the country. Anyone who is not studying Torah should serve in the army. But I must qualify that — the way to bring the charedim into the army is by establishing a charedi corps. The fear in the charedi community today is that their children will return from the army secular.”
Zohar emphasized: “We need to ask the IDF why this corps hasn’t been created yet. I’m saying something simple — if there’s a charedi corps, every charedi who isn’t studying Torah will enlist. There’s no reality where a charedi who isn’t studying Torah stays at home doing nothing. At the same time, to enable this, we must create a corps adapted to their needs.”
“October 7th proved to us all that we need everyone carrying the stretcher. There’s no other option. The charedi public acknowledges this too,” Zohar added.
Regarding the tensions surrounding this issue, he stated: “I want to say one thing — we must not tear the nation apart over this. It needs to be done with consensus. If we create a rift between the charedi and secular communities, we’ve lost our way. I’m worried about the idea of sanctions — because it could lead to civil war. What we saw before October 7th with the judicial reform, the draft issue could trigger the same thing.”
Zohar outlined his proposed solution: “We need to create aa charedi corps, and then pass a law stating that any charedi who isn’t studying Torah full-time must enlist. We won’t allow extreme compromises. The law must lead to a reality where more people from the charedi community, in significant numbers, serve the country.”
Zohar revealed: “I’ve spoken with charedi leaders and important rabbis. They say, ‘We understand the need — but solve one problem: how do we ensure that a child who enlists remains charedi and doesn’t come back secular?’ I suggest everyone focus on solving this issue.”
When addressing the reservists, Zohar said: “We know the reservists are struggling. They’ve been in reserve duty for over a year. It’s hard to put the entire burden on a limited number of people. We have incredible reservists who immediately rise to the occasion and serve wholeheartedly. They are the reason this country exists. Any nation would be lucky to have such dedication. We need to improve their economic situation — they’re doing what not everyone can do: they protect the country.”
Zohar also commented on the tensions with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara over her forthcoming dismissal: “I’ll divide this into two — the issue with the Attorney General has no solution. She decided to declare war through the state. The Attorney General is not advising the government — she’s acting against it. That’s not democratic. She should have stepped down on her own. There’s a public that opposes the government — they’re not objective, they don’t want this government, and with all due respect, I call on them to respect the voters’ decision. We need to fulfill our responsibility to those who elected us. We’ll do good for all Israeli citizens according to our voters’ ideology.”
On the possible dismissal of the Shin Bet chief, Zohar said: “I am against violating Supreme Court rulings. I know Netanyahu — he follows Supreme Court decisions. But I hope the court doesn’t intervene in the dismissal of Ronen Bar and doesn’t make such a foul move against democracy.”
All Israelis should become Chareidy, then everyone will have to join the army, no exceptions.
The fallacy of if only the chareidim joined the army got jobs etc then the chilonim will like them is so silly that it amazes me that intelligent people still continue to talk like this.
It’s like the non religious in america who think that the non jews will like them if only they are more like them or if the are against Israel.
Like the Army is going to agree to that
The problem is that it’s impossible to truly build a charedi sector . What’s charedi? Can you build a division that adheres to the stringent ger takanos? Furthermore if you draft only the boys not learning they are usually the ones a little less committed to charedi lifestyle. Good luck trying to keep them Charedim
Give the Charadim what they want and need and they will join, slowly at the beginning but it will build up.
Problem is leftist liberal secular IDF commanders don’t want to loose command of the army to the religious. they hate us.