The Cabinet appointed a special ministerial committee today to study the question of rescinding the blanket exemption of yeshiva students from military service. The committee, which Is to make its recommendations to the Cabinet, is chaired by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and consists of representatives of all parties in the national emergency coalition government.
About 5,000 yeshiva students were exempted from military duty last year despite the Six-Day War and the tense security situation in its aftermath. Several parties have been pressing for a revision of the draft law which automatically exempts anyone enrolling in a yeshiva. They have been supported by religious kibbutzim, many of whose members waived their exemption and served in the armed forces. But revision is bitterly opposed by the Chief Rabbinate and the religious parties, particularly the ultra-Orthodox Agudas Israel.
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