The Israeli police have taken precautions to prevent demonstrations tonight in front of Parliament by religious groups opposing mobilization of young women for service in agricultural settlements, if they claim exemption from military service on religious grounds.
A proposal to amend the military service law to enable the government to mobilize Orthodox girls who have hitherto been exempt from any kind of compulsory service in Israel was presented tonight to Parliament by Premier David Ben Gurion.
Presenting his bill to a tense and crowded house, Premier Ben Gurion declared that Israel, which is suffering from an acute manpower shortage, cannot rely on its army alone for defense. “The entire nation, not just a part of it, must be mobilized,” he said. In addition, he asserted, the move is necessary to weld a homogenous group of the various parts of the Jewish nation. He charged that the Religious Bloc is opposing the move for political, not religious, reasons, concluding that he would not permit a “political underground” to subvert a “vital national issue.” After he spoke, 40 deputies registered their intention of participating in the debate on the measure.
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