A Knesset member called on the government today to end its policy of drafting 18-year-olds into the army who were still attending high school. Yossi Sarid, of the Labor Alignment, criticized the policy at a meeting of the Alignment Knesset faction’s executive committee after the Knesset presidium refused to recognize his urgent agenda motion on the subject. Sarid argued that to draft high school students just because they have reached the age of 18 imposed a hardship mainly on youngsters from the lower economic brackets who, because of social difficulties were still attending secondary school. He suggested that the army could cancel deferments for college students and draft immigrants after one year’s residence in the country instead of two.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
