Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan acknowledged that drafting the entire Chareidi public is not practical and the entire issue is “cheap populism.”

Golan added that the IDF is not capable nor interested in absorbing large numbers of Chareidi recruits without proper preparation.

Speaking at a panel held in recent days at the Molad Institute, Golan said: “There’s no issue that has become more of a victim of cheap populism than the drafting of the Chareidim,” he said. ” I want to tell you—you can’t draft all the Chareidim tomorrow morning, even if an amazing law were passed an hour from now.”

“And we wouldn’t want to draft them all tomorrow morning either, because we wouldn’t want to create an army that receives thousands of people in every draft cycle and has to establish separate frameworks for men. In short, it’s simply not practical.”

“We also wouldn’t want a population that lacks education, lacks motivation, and lacks physical capability. In short, that’s not how it works. Drafting Chareidim is a process, drafting Arabs is a process, and drafting Chareidi women is a process.”

Golan added that because each annual age cohort is growing, “the army will not grow in proportion to the size of the draft cohorts. That is simply not realistic.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)