130 senior economists in Israel warned in a collective letter of the existential threat to Israel due to what they called the government’s insistence on exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) from conscription into the army.
According to the letter, the contents of which were revealed by the Israeli Channel 12, “The combination of Israeli government policies and the high growth rate of the extremist Jewish population is leading the country towards the abyss and seriously and existentially endangering the Israeli economy and society, including the extremist religious community itself.”
The letter added, “Without a change in the current course, the spending on religious schools and the exemption of religious people from military service puts the state’s existence at risk, and many of those who bear the economic burden will prefer to emigrate from Israel.”
The warning letter – which was addressed to the government – believes that “the feeling of inequality in service will push many people to leave Israel.”
“The population who will remain in Israel will be less educated and less productive, and therefore the burden on the remaining productive population will increase, which will encourage further immigration from Israel,” the letter said.
The signatories of the letter include former senior officials in the Ministry of Finance and other government ministries and the Bank of Israel, the Chairman of the Shashinsky Committee, Professor Eitan Shashinsky, and Professor Manuel Trachtenberg.
They also include the head of the National Economic Council, former CEOs of the Ministry of Finance Professor Avi Ben-Best, David Brodt, Yarom Aryab, and Keren Turner, the head of the Economists for Democracy Forum Professor Itay Ater, and others.
Months ago, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant called for the enactment of a new law abolishing the exemptions from conscription and military service enjoyed by ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Earlier, Israeli affairs expert Ahmed Al-Bahnasi told Al Jazeera Net that the religious parties in Israel are a “burden” on Israeli society for reasons related to their refusal to serve in the military due to devoting themselves to studying religion or relying on financial aid from the government instead of working.
Last March, the Central Bank of Israel entered the crisis line of exempting the Haredim from conscription, and said that conscripting these people into the army would contribute to alleviating the damage to the economy.
The Finance Ministry’s Budget Commissioner, Yogev Gardos, previously warned that the conscription law in its current form would have dire economic consequences.
The number of Haredim in 2022 reached about 1,280,000 people, compared to 750,000 in 2009, and they now constitute 13.3% of the total population of Israel.
