According to a report on Haredim10, officials in the Ministry of Finance have leveled some criticism at the Defense Ministry for sending draft notices to Haredim who are working rather than learning.
What's the issue? That is actually the best of the worst scenarios that some int he coalition have been demanding - leave the yeshiva guys alone and go after the guys not in yeshiva as they dont deserve an exemption but should be drafted! So what's the problem?
According to the Finance Ministry officials, going after working haredim will cause significant financial damage. Their thinking is, according to the report, twofold:1. any Haredim working are likely too old to be useful in the army as a replacement for combat soldiers in a war, so this doesn't help much.2. Haredim working will leave the workforce to avoid the army draft notices, which will damage the economy to the tune of billions of shekels..
I would like to know what the first problem is based on, what is the source, as I know plenty of young Haredim who are working rather than learning or serving, so it is not just old haredim who are working. So even if is true for some, there are still probably plenty of young enough Haredim working to help the military effort and be useful in some way.
Regarding the second problem if their approach is that the economy is more important than the military and taking young Haredi men to the army will hurt the economy, why not demand an exemption for all young men so they can work and help the economy instead of going to the army? Drafting young men who could be working all over Israel must be costing the economy trillions or more every year! "ela mah", that's not much of an argument - the nation has decided that young men and women of a certain age need to do military service at the expense of getting a degree or working or traveling or anything else they might want to do regardless of how beneficial it is or isnt.
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