Israel PM’s party backs ‘conscription for all’
9 July 2012 12:59 PM GMT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party announced on Sunday it would back a controversial plan to compel ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab Israelis to complete military or community service.
Meeting in Jerusalem, the party said it would support the recommendations proposed by the so-called Plesner committee last week.
‘The party this morning discussed and unanimously adopted the principles laid out by the Plesner commission,’ Likud spokeswoman Noga Katz said in a statement.
The decision means the government will now move towards drafting a law requiring all sectors of Israeli society to complete either military or community service, with penalties to be levied on those who fail to comply. The Plesner panel also called for increased incentives and benefits for those who serve, as well as efforts to combat draft-dodging.
The new law will replace the so-called Tal Law, which contained national service exemptions for ultra-0rthodox Jews and Arab Israelis, but was overturned by Israel's High Court earlier this year.
Likud's decision to back the recommendations of the commission appeared to head off the possibility of a coalition crisis.
The Kadima party headed by Shaul Mofaz, which joined the government in May giving Netanyahu a massive parliamentary majority, had threatened to quit the coalition over the issue of military service for all. But after the Likud party decision, Netanyahu's office said the prime minister and Mofaz had agreed on the formation of a panel to draft the new law.
Meeting in Jerusalem, the party said it would support the recommendations proposed by the so-called Plesner committee last week.
‘The party this morning discussed and unanimously adopted the principles laid out by the Plesner commission,’ Likud spokeswoman Noga Katz said in a statement.
The decision means the government will now move towards drafting a law requiring all sectors of Israeli society to complete either military or community service, with penalties to be levied on those who fail to comply. The Plesner panel also called for increased incentives and benefits for those who serve, as well as efforts to combat draft-dodging.
The new law will replace the so-called Tal Law, which contained national service exemptions for ultra-0rthodox Jews and Arab Israelis, but was overturned by Israel's High Court earlier this year.
Likud's decision to back the recommendations of the commission appeared to head off the possibility of a coalition crisis.
The Kadima party headed by Shaul Mofaz, which joined the government in May giving Netanyahu a massive parliamentary majority, had threatened to quit the coalition over the issue of military service for all. But after the Likud party decision, Netanyahu's office said the prime minister and Mofaz had agreed on the formation of a panel to draft the new law.
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