It seems the big showdown regarding the new law being prepared for the army draft of yeshiva students is coming down to the issue of what type of sanctions will there be against those who refuse the draft and go AWOL.
Lapid is strong-arming the push for criminal sanctions, meaning anybody AWOL will have to go to jail and be treated like a criminal. Bennet, Shaked, and others are pushing, seemingly not too strongly, for economic sanctions, meaning anybody AAWOL will lose budgets, subsidies, and funding.
I really prefer not having criminal sanctions, because I think the impetus for change and for bringing more yeshiva boys into the army will not come about as a result of forcing the issue, throwing them in jail (or threatening to), and the like - I think this will only reverse any actually progress (at least in the short term) and make the societal conflict even greater.
However, the problem I see is, how can you possibly not impose criminal sanctions when you have a mandatory draft?
I mean, if everyone who is drafted into the IDF knows that going AWOL will put him at risk of being thrown into the brig, why should haredi boys be different. A haredi boy can go AWOL and lose some government funding for the school he attends or mortgage benefits, while a non-haredi boy goes AWOL and ends up in prison. When working for "shivyon b'netel", I don't see how a different punishment can justifiably be defined for the same action by people from different sectors.
And, if criminal sanctions are not imposed, but only economic, when a secular boy goes AWOL, why should he be thrown in jail - he should also only suffer economic sanctions? Or, perhaps he can right then and there declare that he is haredi and must only suffer from economic sanctions?
While I do not like criminal sanctions, I do not see how it can be justified, in the context of a law defining equality of service, anything but.
If you do understand it, please explain.
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