In a discussion held on Wednesday in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a haredi soldiers spoke about the stigma military service holds in the haredi community.
Meir Shemtsov recounted that a week after the October 7th massacre, he left his home in Modiin Illit dressed in uniform and was pelted with stones, bottles, and diapers thrown at him from the third floor of a yeshiva building. He was called 'Nazi' in his neighborhood week after week.
Shemtsov placed the responsibility for the radicalization on the leaders of the haredi public. He especially blamed them for failing to offer civilian national service as an alternative to the IDF.
Shemtsov called for the haredi leaders to work to remove the stigma involved and to offer alternatives. He also demanded that a more honest accounting be made of the subsidies for Yeshiva students who are listed as actively learning even though they do not actually attend their classes.
"There are students who have not attended Yeshiva for some time, but are still enrolled so the Yeshiva can collect money for them. It is becoming a business," he claimed.