After the Israeli Supreme Court struck down the Tal Law, which sought to encourage the inclusion -over time- of Haredim in military service, the court, for all intents and purposes, has required the state to draft some 60,000 Haredi youths this August, in addition to 7,000 yeshiva students who already serve in keeping with the expiring, old law.

Prime Minister Netanyahu this week told representatives of reservist activists, who are protesting as part of the “suckers’ encampment,” that the Tal Law will be replaced with “a more egalitarian and just law,” and that “the division of the burden must be changed. What has been is not what will be.”

The 2002 Tal Law, named after retired Supreme Court justice Tzvi Tal, must be extended every five years. Among other things, the law allowed full-time yeshiva students to delay their army service until age 23, at which time they could choose to study full time, enlist for a shorter military service, or volunteer for a year of national service.

“I know that there are many hitchhikers who voted to automatically extend the Tal Law. I am not one of them,” Netanyahu told the protesting reservists. “The Tal Law will be replaced by a more egalitarian and just law, and I will submit it.”

Netanyahu said the new law would include civilian national service for Arab citizens, who are not required to serve in the military.

Meanwhile, à la guerre comme à la guerre, opposition leader Shaul Mofaz, along with the head of the Labor and Meretz parties, have threatened to bring proposals for early elections before the Knesset in the coming days.

Likud coalition partner Yisrael Beytenu has also threatened to bring a request for early elections over amending the Tal Law, with party leader Avigdor Liberman saying that “Our obligation to the coalition is over.”

In preparation for the August deadline, and perhaps as a show of political muscle on the eve of an approaching early election, on May 9 Yisrael Beytenu will introduce the bill “IDF, National, or Civilian Service Law Proposal” in the Knesset, to regulate, once and for all, the enlistment of all Israelis into military, national or civilian service.

Submitted by MKs David Rotem, Moshe Matalon, Robert Ilatov, Anastassia Michaeli, Hamad Amar, Lia Shemtov, Faina Kirshenbaum, Alex Miller, and Orly Levy Abekasis, the new law sets out to promote “equal sharing of the burden of service among the State’s citizens.”

The new law introduces a framework in which every citizen will serve in the IDF, or in national or civilian service.

While “National Service” is already established as an alternative, voluntary option for Israeli youths who do not wish to serve in the IDF for a variety of reasons, the new law establishes compulsory “Civilian Service,” or community service, in “institutions for the absorption of new immigrants, health care, institutions for the elderly population, nursing homes, welfare departments in local authorities, fire services, the Israel Police Force, Environmental Protection and volunteer organizations.”

The new law will keep in place some of the existing deferrals of military service, such as the “Hesder Yeshivas,” which integrate periods of active IDF service and periods of study. Likewise, the Defense Minister may “exempt or grant a deferral from IDF service to outstanding students at universities, outstanding athletes and outstanding artists, provided that the number of exemptions and deferrals under this section not exceed one thousand per year.”

It is unclear what will be the basis for the quota of one thousand exemptions. The Jewish Press attempted to seek an explanation from the IB faction as to why this particular number but so far have not received a response.

But the number coincides with the other limit, of a maximum of one thousand exemptions and deferrals per year to long-term yeshiva students, “in order to continue the cultivation of prodigies among yeshiva students.”

And shortly afterwards, the new law arrives at the center piece of the matter – overturning of the Deferral Law for long-term yeshiva students. In one, laconic phrase, the proposal decrees:

“The Deferral of Service Act for Long-term Yeshiva students of 2002 (5762) is hereby overturned.”

The proposal concludes with an ideological substantiation of the above, curt statement:

“The idea that Torah study somehow forbids seeking employment or justifies deferring IDF service is incompatible with the Jewish faith. Maimonides explicitly states: “Anyone who decides that he will occupy himself with Torah and will not do any work profanes the Name of God, degrades the Torah, extinguishes the light of religion, hurts himself, and removes his life from the world to come – for it is forbidden to derive any benefit from matters of Torah in this world” (The Laws of Torah Study 3).

“Therefore, it is proposed that every citizen be obligated to serve the State of Israel. Anyone serving a complete term of civilian service, will be exempted from IDF service. Conditions and terms during and after the term of service will be comparable to the terms of those who served in the national service, whose terms are regulated by legislation.”

Professor Benzion Netanyahu will be laid to rest at 5pm on Monday at the Har HaMenuchot Cemetery in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood.

The former aide to Ze’ev Jabotinsky, father of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Operation Entebbe hero Yoni Netanyahu, was 102.  For more about Professor Benzion, click here.

An open letter to:

Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon

Secretary of State of the United States , Mrs. Hillary Clinton

US Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Daniel Shapiro

President of the European Council of the EU, Mr. Herman Van Rompuy

Director General of the International Red Cross, Mr. Yves Daccord

President of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres

Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu

According to various news agencies, Mr. Muhammad Abu Shahala, a former intelligence agent for the Palestinian Authority, has been sentenced to death, following a hurried trial. His crime: selling property to Jews in Hebron.

Mr. Abu Shahala reportedly confessed, following torture sessions at the hands of his captors. The death sentence can be executed only following concurrence by Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, President of the PA. After he signs the death warrant, Abu Shahala may be killed.

It is appalling to think that property sales should be defined as a capital crime punishable by death. The very fact that such a law exists within the framework of the PA legal system points to a barbaric and perverse type of justice, reminiscent of practices implemented during the dark ages.

It is incumbent upon the entire international community, which views the Palestinian Authority as viable Middle East peace partner, to publicly reject such acts of legal murder, when the crime is the sale of property to Jews.

What would be the reaction to a law in the United States, England, France, or Switzerland, forbidding property sales to Jews?

Actually, less than one hundred years ago, such acts were legislated and practiced. They were known as the Nuremberg laws. On October 3, 1938 Nazi Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, implemented the Decree of the Confiscation of Jewish Property, regulating the transfer of assets from Jewish to non-Jewish Germans. On December 11, 1938 another law was passed: the regulation for the elimination of Jews from the Economic life of Germany. Among other sections was a clause forbidding Jews from offering merchandise for sale.

Is the Palestinian Authority a reincarnation of the Third Reich?

We appeal to all international leaders to demand the annulment of the death warrant and pending execution of Muhammad Abu Shahala, to be followed by his immediate release from imprisonment, for he has committed no crime.

David Wilder Noam Arnon
The Jewish Community of Hebron

Gilad Shalit met on Thursday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, for the first time since being greeted by the Prime Minister upon his return to Israel after five and a half years in Hamas captivity.

The visit, scheduled to coincide with the Passover holiday, was also attended by Netanyahu’s wife Sara, and Gilad’s parents, Noam and Aviva.

Gilad took the opportunity to again thank Netanyahu for returning him home last October, and told the Prime Minister that he had gained 6 kilograms since then. “Now time goes by faster and I’m getting more active. For example, I have a more diverse daily routine. I even came here on the train. Soon I’ll be discharged from the army.”

“You’re looking very well and it is evident that you are coming back to life,” Netanyahu responded. “This year the holiday of liberation gets a special meaning. From slavery to freedom; from darkness to light.”

Aviva Shalit thanked the Prime Minister, saying “we will always remember that you returned Gilad…It was important for me to come here today with Gilad so you can see that ‘whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.’”

Netanyahu deflected some of the credit, saying that throughout the ordeal, his wife was a relentless advocate for Gilad’s return.

Noam Shalit, who recently announced that he was running for a Knesset seat on the Labor party ticket and has publicly criticized Netanyahu, said that his family wanted to meet with Netanyahu because it was important to thank all those responsible for Gilad’s return.

The absence of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem from a list of sites to receive funding as part of Israel’s National Heritage program has raised the ire of MKs in support of Jewish rights in Judea and Samaria.

MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) and MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) expressed disapproval that the two sites – the burial places of the Jewish foreparents Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah in Hebron, and Rachel in Bethlehem – were absent from a renovation funding list presented at a ministerial committee meeting on Tuesday.

Eldad defended the importance of the sites, and warned that withholding funding from the sites is equivalent to removing them from the National Heritage Program.

In February 2010, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced a NIS 500 million investment plan aimed at rejuvenating sites of importance to the Jewish People and the State of Israel.  Israel was criticized by the US and the UN body UNESCO for including the two sites on the list.

The Prime Minister’s Office responded to concerns by saying the renovations necessary at the sites were not critical at this time, and that not receiving funding was no indication that the sites had been removed from the National Heritage list.

“Hebron wasn’t funded this time around, but we’ve been assured at the highest levels that in the near future, we will be”, said David Wilder, Spokesman of the Jewish Community of Hebron in an interview with The Jewish Press.  “It wasn’t taken off the list.”

Tel Shiloh, the site which housed the Mishkan (Tabernacle) prior to its installation in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, will likely be picked for immediate renovation by the committee.  It is located north of Jerusalem in the community of Shilo in Samaria.

In light of a reconciliation between the militant anti-Israel terror group Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah, Prime Minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement warning that steps by the Palestinian Authority to implement the new agreement will mean the end of peace talks with Israel.

The following is the “Special Statement by Prime Minister Netanyahu” publicized by the Government Press Office (GPO):

In recent weeks, I and several world leaders have made serious efforts to advance peace. 

If President Abbas moves to implement what was signed today in Doha, he will abandon the path of peace and join forces with the enemies of peace.

Hamas is an enemy of peace. It’s an Iranian-backed terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction. It has not accepted the minimal conditions set by the international community:

• It refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

• It refuses to honor the signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

• It refuses to abandon terrorism.

• Indeed, it continues to arm itself for even deadlier terrorism. 

President Abbas, you can’t have it both ways. It’s either a pact with Hamas or peace with Israel. It’s one or the other. You can’t have them both.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority returned to land-based negotiations at the behest of the United States in early January in Jordan.  Talks were often tense, and parties on both sides agreed that little was accomplished toward resolving conflicts.

The director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office and the head of the Union of Local Authorities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ending their dispute and the two-day old strike that paralyzed towns and cities nationwide.

The details of the agreement have not yet been released.

Once again an Israeli prime minister has released large numbers of Palestinian terrorists in exchange for a single Jew. And yet again some of the key terrorists set free have Israeli blood on their hands. Lots of blood.
To be sure, Benjamin Netanyahu’s primary intent was to secure the safe release of kidnapped IDF Sergeant Gilad Shalit. This goal was, of course, solidly commendable and utterly uncontroversial. Everyone wanted Gilad home. But at what cost?
The documented evidence concerning similar terrorist releases is ominous. In the past, such “trades” sometimes brought Israel more terrorism, and hence more terrorist murders of Israeli civilians. This should hardly come as a surprise. What is difficult to understand is this: Why has there been no learning from the unambiguous lessons of the past? What, exactly, was Netanyahu thinking?
Here is a plausible response. Mirroring the irremediable mistakes of his several predecessors, this prime minister’s justification was based, in large part, upon a plainly erroneous assumption. For whatever reason, Netanyahu is still willing to gamble that the Palestinian Authority and even Hamas will ultimately agree to some sort of durable peace with Israel. So, with nothing more in hand than this wholly unsupportable conviction, he is now willing to gamble with the lives of Israelis who might soon become the newest victims of his diplomatic largesse.
Oddly, unhidden and undisguised, the “moderate” Fatah/PA now offers young Arab viewers substantially less “peaceful” television programming. Today, in distinctly contrapuntal opposition to Netanyahu’s generosity of spirit, Palestinian children can observe endless hours of celebration of Palestinian “martyrdom.” Here, persistently defamatory images of Jews (not “Israelis”) are benignly presented to eager viewers by Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck characters.
Netanyahu has the best of intentions. He is an honorable man. Still, despite his plainly noble objectives, there remains a flat-out indecency to the recent exchange. Whatever obvious and deserved happiness it has produced for Gilad Shalit and his family, this grievously asymmetrical deal will always exude an irrepressible scent of blood and impurity.
How, we must inquire, could any Israeli leader reasonably defend the release of unrepentant and still-dedicated Palestinian terrorists? How could any thoughtful Jewish leader ever countenance such a palpable and unreciprocated surrender?
Mr. Prime Minister, the ongoing Palestinian war against Israel has never been about peace or justice or “confidence building.” It has always been entirely about Jewish annihilation. For some reason that is still unfathomable, you and many others don’t understand the only acceptable “confidence-building” measure that Israel could ever extend to the Palestinians would be an Israeli pledge to disappear.
A genuinely significant irony has escaped Netanyahu, as it has many other well-meaning Israeli scholars, jurists and politicians. Soon, following this latest round of terrorist prisoner surrenders, Israel will appear to all of its enemies (Hamas, Fatah, it makes no difference) as mortally weak. Predictably, these relentless Palestinian foes, even while embroiled in their own endless internecine strife, will cheerfully conclude that Israel has finally begun to fawn upon its own “inevitable” doom.
The irony worsens. Sensing Israel’s newest prisoner surrenders as expressions of a divine will, Israel’s Palestinian enemies will continue to oblige the Jewish state’s presumed inclination to die in increments. They will, therefore, “allow” Israel to disappear slowly: first, by demanding more terrorist releases (why not?); second, by expanding preparations for both unconventional terrorism and conventional war. Practically, both forms of such a lethal expansion would assuredly be made more plausible by a planned declaration of Palestinian statehood, through the always kind and keenly impartial offices of the United Nations.
Incontestably, a carefully orchestrated Palestinian/Islamist jihad is already being initiated in conspicuously measured phases. There are few real secrets here. Ultimately, when the IDF is staring helplessly and absurdly at its own irreversible disintegration, the self-weakening Jewish state will merge seamlessly into “Palestine.”
Despair, we learn from the Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard, “is the sickness unto death.” Now that Netanyahu has had his way with this latest terrorist exchange, it will be Israel’s likely fate to despair for a long while. If the PA and Hamas interpret the prime minister’s persistent
capitulations as an obvious fulfillment of Islamic religious promise, which is altogether probable, the paradoxical torment of Israel’s despair may be that it will not be able to die.
To be sick in such a uniquely hideous fashion, to be sick unto death, and not to be able to die, could be, for Israel, the cruelest blow of all.
The despairing state, like the despairing individual, cannot die. For Israel, the agonizing hopelessness of an unavailable death would entail literally “dying the death.” This sentence of living to experience death, before becoming insensate, would be infinitely worse than being permitted to expire normally.
To die, and yet not to die, to physiologically and psychologically “die the death,” would be, for Israel, unequivocally, a fate worse than death.
Despair, Mr. Prime Minister, a dreadfully immobilizing pathology for both individuals and nations, is the Jewish state’s approaching sickness unto death.
This sickness, hastened by recent and irrational terrorist releases, is potentially even more dangerous to Israel than are Palestinian rockets or enemy armies. Although a dramatic synergy already exists between enemy military might and Israel’s reappearing sickness of surrender, only the latter will breed a virulent and insurmountable sickness unto death.
Not long ago, the “moderate” Palestinian Authority’s appointed clergy, preaching on the Temple Mount, shrieked the following sermon: “Palestinians, spearhead Allah’s war against the Jews. The dead shall not rise until the Palestinians shall kill all the Jews…. All agreements with Israel are provisional.”
Is there anything ambiguous or unclear here about Israel’s recalcitrant Palestinian foes? I don’t think so.