Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he would only support a law over IDF enlistment and national service if it applies to every Israeli citizen, including Israel?s Arab population and the ultra-Orthodox.

??I will not bring a law to a vote which does not also require equal enlistment for the Ultra-Orthodox and Arabs,? Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu was responding to the news on Thursday that the Plesner Committee, tasked with drafting a replacement for the Tal Law that exempts yeshiva students from mandatory military service, will recommend that every Israeli citizen who is not mandated to carry out military service should carry out civil service, but that this should be only implemented gradually.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The recommendation is expected to gradually increase the number of people from the minority sectors carrying out national service to 6,000 by the year 2016. At the same time, the committee will recommend that the government mandate a committee to thoroughly examine the issues involved in applying the principle of ?service for all? in the long-term.

Earlier, coalition members Yisrael Beitenu and HaBayit HaYehudi announced that they were leaving the Plesner Committee, as it was ?favoring the Israeli-Arab public.?

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount