Mandatory Military Service Period for Men Extended by 4 Months
No Mention of Service Period for Women
Israeli media reported on the 12th (local time) that Israel has extended the mandatory military service period for men from 32 months to 36 months.
The Israeli Security Cabinet approved a plan in a meeting the previous day to extend men's military service by 4 months for the next 8 years. This will be voted on at a ministerial-level meeting on the 14th and finalized next week at the Knesset (parliament).
Israel is a conscription country. Both men and women are subject to enlistment upon turning 18. Under current law, men must serve 32 months and women 24 months in the military. The extension plan did not mention the mandatory service period for women.
Following the news of the extension, some criticized the exemption benefits from conscription granted to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish 'Haredi' men. They live in closed communities without television, internet, or social media. Men devote most of their time to religious study, while women manage the household and care for the family.
The Haredi have been exempt from military service since 1948. In the early days of Israel's founding, the state recognized their contribution to establishing Israel and the necessity to preserve the lineage of the ultra-Orthodox who were victims of the Holocaust, granting them this benefit.
The Haredi make up about 12% of Israel's total population. Due to a disproportionately large young population, they account for 24% of the conscription-age group. Last year, a record 66,000 Haredi men were exempted from military service. As the number of exempt men reached a peak, there have been criticisms that increasing the service period for other men is unfair.
In recent months, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant has demanded the government and parliament increase conscript service to 36 months and criticized the military exemption benefits applied to the Haredi.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
