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A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 21 February 2020
Israel confirms ultra-Orthodox draft figures were inflated

By JOSEPH KRAUSS two inconclusive elections
Associated Press last year, and promise to
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Is- be a key issue in the up-
raeli military said Thursday coming March 2 elections.
it found "serious, systemic The vote will be the coun-
failures" in its own reporting try's unprecedented third
that inflated figures on the election in less than a year,
enlistment of ultra-Ortho- and the Yisrael Beitenu
dox Jews, a hot-button is- party headed by former
sue in a country where most Defense Minister Avigdor
Jewish men are subject to Lieberman, whose platform
mandatory conscription. has focused on what it says
The military launched an in- is the excessive influence of
vestigation after an expose the ultra-Orthodox, is once
by Israel's public broad- again poised to make a
caster Kan in early Decem- strong showing.
ber found that the military Conricus said the errors
"doubled or even tripled" stemmed from "severe pro-
figures on the number of ul- fessional negligence" within
tra-Orthodox men drafted the military's manpower di-
for the past several years. rectorate.
The army had previously "No direct instructions were
said that ultra-Orthodox In this Oct. 19, 2017 file photo, Israeli police scuffle with ultra-Orthodox Jews as they block a main given by senior command-
draft figures have surged. road during a protest against Israeli army conscription, in Jerusalem. ers ... to manipulate or cor-
The investigation instead Associated Press rupt the data in any way or
found "serious, systemic to provide false reports in
failures that also related to failed to meet its recruit- sidies for ultra-Orthodox that the system is weighing order to meet recruitment
professional capabilities as ment goals from 2014 to men, have been a source down the economy and is goals," he said. "We did not
well as command respon- 2018. of resentment among Isra- unsustainable in the long find political pressure or fi-
sibilities," Lt. Col. Jonathan Israel's politically power- el's Jewish secular majority, run, calling on the govern- nancial motives."
Conricus, a military spokes- ful ultra-Orthodox political who are required to serve. ment to integrate ultra- Instead, he said personnel
man, told reporters. parties have used their in- The ultra-Orthodox are also Orthodox men into the job in the directorate "gave
He declined to speak fluence over the decades often schooled in separate market. The now-discred- themselves a very liberal
about exact numbers, to protect the draft exemp- systems that offer little of ited military effort to enlist interpretation of the law
which will be included in tions, allowing young reli- the core curriculum, leav- young ultra-Orthodox men and of what they could do,
a report published later in gious men to instead pur- ing them ill-prepared for was seen as an important which resulted in a con-
the day, but said the dis- sue religious studies in insu- the modern workforce and step in this process. scious, intentional and sys-
crepancies in some years lar seminaries. breeding a culture of pov- Issues of religion and state tematic behavior that went
ran into the "hundreds." The The exemptions, coupled erty. were among the main po- beyond the definitions of
inquiry found that the army with generous welfare sub- Experts have long warned litical fault lines in Israel's the law."q

Irish lawmakers meet as wrangling to form government goes on

LONDON (AP) — Ireland's to the White House by Ire- continue to seek coali-
parliament convened land's leader. tion partners in the com-
Thursday for the first time The election result was a ing days and weeks. So far,
since an election two weeks major blow for Fianna Fail Fianna Fail has ruled out
ago that left three parties and Fine Gael, which have an alliance with Sinn Fein.
on roughly level pegging, dominated Irish politics Varadkar has said he ex-
with no easy route to form- since the country won in- pects Fine Gael to end up
ing a stable government. dependence from Britain a in opposition.
Talks among the parties century ago. McDonald said Sinn Fein
have failed to make much The two parties have long would " talk to everybody
progress since the Feb. 8 shunned Sinn Fein because because that's what you
election, which brought a of its historic links to the Irish do in a democratic system,
breakthrough for left-wing Republican Army and de- that's what grown-ups do."
nationalists Sinn Fein at the cades of violence in North- "I do know this much, I know
expense of the two long- Sinn Fein Leader Mary Lou McDonald, center, with party law- ern Ireland. that nobody voted for a re-
makers, arrives at Leinster House, Dublin, Thursday, Feb. 20,
dominant centrist parties, 2020. But Sinn Fein's radical pro- turn of Fianna Fail and Fine
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Associated Press posals for tackling Ireland's Gael," she said.
Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein housing crisis and creaking "I also know from speaking
each hold 37 seats in the prime minister. Varadkar, the current Tao- healthcare system proved to people out and about,
160-seat Dail, parliament's Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou iseach, formally resigned a powerful draw for young people of all politics and
lower house. Fine Gael has McDonald, Fianna Fail as prime minister after the voters in a country that is none, that any suggestion
35. leader Micheal Martin votes, but will stay on as still dealing with aftershocks of return of the old Fianna
Thursday's session opened and Fine Gael leader Leo caretaker leader until a of the 2008 global financial Fail and Fine Gael govern-
with the election of a Varadkar were all nomi- successor is chosen. He's crisis, which hammered its ment will cause huge dis-
speaker, followed by par- nated to the top post, but due to travel to Washing- debt-driven "Celtic Tiger" appointment right across
ties nominating their can- none secured enough ton next month for the tra- economy. the country and, I imagine,
didates for Taoiseach, or votes to be elected. ditional St. Patrick's Day visit McDonald said she would huge anger."q