About 5,000 members of Jewish religious groups today participated in a peaceful demonstration here protesting the announced intention of Premier David Ben Gurion of calling up religious girls for compulsory service. Similar demonstrations are being arranged throughout the entire country.
The Chief Rabbinate in Israel today issued a proclamation prohibiting the mobilization of girls in any manner or for any kind of military service. The proclamation was issued after the Premier made it clear to a delegation of rabbis, headed by Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog, that he is not inclined to make any concessions to women who claim exemption from service on religious grounds.
All Israeli women between 18 and 28 are liable to two years of service in the armed forces and are required to take a one-month refresher course every year after their training is completed. Under the Premier’s amendment, women claiming exemption on religious grounds would be required to serve two years in agricultural settlements, social welfare agencies or military offices.
In announcing his intention to introduce the amendment, Premier Ben Gurion charged that thousands of women have been availing themselves of the religious exemption to shirk their duty. He pointed out that the new amendment was requested by the military authorities.
In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Chief Rabbi Herzog said today: “If the Parliament passes the amendment, the Rabbinical Court will ban it. The Chief Rabbinate will also proclaim a world-wide day of fast in protest against such a decision. Orthodox Jewry is determined to fill the prisons in Israel with their daughters rather than comply with the law, if it is passed.”
(Israel is one of four member nations of the United Nations which requires women to serve in its armed forces, it was reported today at U.N. headquarters in New York. A report on “Women in Public Services and Functions,” prepared for submission to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, listed the nations as: Chile, Israel, Pakistan and Turkey.)
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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.
