Haredim protest universal enlistment, Christians support it

Ahead of next week's expected release of the Shaked committee's findings regarding universal Israel Defense Forces enlistment laws in Israel, the ultra-Orthodox community continues to protest the draft of yeshiva students, with the Sephardi community joining the dissenting voices on Sunday.

"The authorities think that the Sephardi public are the weak link and that it will be easy to enlist them because they are not the type to protest," Rabbi Shalom Cohen at a conference of Shas rabbis opposing the "draft decree" in Jerusalem on Sunday. The conference followed demonstrations and panels held by the Ashkenazi haredi community last week.

According to Cohen, an important rabbi among Sephardi yeshivas, underestimating the Sephardi opposition to the draft is "a big mistake on their part. We will not surrender to them and we will not let them think our boys will follow them. The only way to frustrate them is for all of us to unite as one body in support of this cause.

"They want to draft our pupils, but [instead] we will recruit their sons to the yeshiva benches," Cohen added.

Various sects in the haredi community are preparing for the new recruitment legislation. The head Hasidic rabbis have banded together and will be travelling to the United States to raise awareness and funds for the struggle against the draft.

On Saturday night, a party was held for a young haredi man taken to Prison 6 after refusing to show up to a recruitment center following his first draft order. The festivities were held at Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach's home, in keeping with the his aggressive stance against enlistment.

"Fortifying the wall"

In a conference held by the heads of the Lithuanian yeshivas last week, Rabbi Yigal Ratzon said, "They are trying to bring us closer to temptations; they want to take our sons out of the yeshiva. We must fortify the wall to make it stronger so that they will not be able to achieve this.

"From here, we will cry out to our brothers: We are one nation. Who makes such decrees upon their own brothers-! If, God forbid, we need a last resort, we know how to bring out thousands of people to a city's streets. If it is necessary, we will not hesitate to do so."

At the same conference, Rabbi Boruch Dov Povarsky, head of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, said: "We are fighting for our lives; they don't understand. They want to kill us, all of us. The Torah is our life, and [yeshiva] students must take to heart and know that this is a war of life and death."

After the conference, one participant said: "The rabbis made it extremely clear that they oppose any kind of sanctions [for not enlisting], criminal or economic. There is no change in the [rabbis'] instructions as of yet, and a yeshiva student who receives a draft notice must go [to the recruitment office]. We are not starting a war, but if they force this upon us, we will react as someone does when there is a threat to his life."

Meanwhile, as Christmas nears, members of the Christian community met on Sunday along with some 100 Christian soldiers at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Nazareth Illit to receive the recorded blessing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who supports Christian enlistment.

The meeting was arranged following the attack on Greek Orthodox priest Rev. Gabriel Nadaf's 17-year-old son due to his father's support of the Christian draft. Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Ofir Akunis, who heads the Christian recruitment effort, was in attendance at the conference.

In his greeting, Netanyahu expressed his support for Christian recruitment and said Israel has a zero-tolerance approach to violence against Christian soldiers. "We are with you," Akunis said, thanking the soldiers present. "Threats, incitement and violence will not deter us."

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