June 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Israeli Government approved this Sunday to present a bill prepared by the Ministry of Defense that contemplates raising the retirement age of reservists of the Armed Forces.
The retirement age would rise from 40 to 41 for soldiers, from 45 to 46 for officers and from 49 to 50 for specialists such as doctors.
A similar bill was already approved in first reading last year, but the change is not stable and expires at the end of July, so a new version will be sent to the Legislation Committee of the Israeli Knesset or Parliament and will become into law if it is approved in three readings.
The parliamentary committee only supports a three-month extension. It also aims to include preferential treatment for reservists in matters such as examinations for public sector jobs, the purchase of land or academic enrollment.
However, the State Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, considers that the current formulation of the project is unacceptable as long as it does not open the melon of increasing recruitment, a measure that includes the inclusion of the ultra-Orthodox, now exempt from military service.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party has already criticized the proposal for being discriminatory. “Reservists and taxpayers are sinking while (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the extremists put the weight on continuing to evade responsibilities while smiling,” he reproached.
He thus asks the coalition led by Netanyahu to “stop the madness” and the “painful discrimination by blood.” “I support the reservists and their families. You are heroes and we are going to do everything we can for your heroism,” he noted.
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