Bismuth says law regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription will be passed in December

‘I admire those who wear the uniform, but just as much — and I say this out loud — I admire those who study the Torah,’ Knesset defense panel chair tells pro-government Channel 14

By Sam Sokol 22 October 2025, 10:37 am

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

A revised draft of the government’s long-delayed bill to regulate military conscription for the ultra-Orthodox community will be presented to lawmakers next week, with the goal of sending it to the plenum for its final two readings in December, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth announced Tuesday evening.

During an appearance on the pro-government Channel 14’s “The Patriots” show, the Likud lawmaker claimed that “there is no one who loves this country who can oppose” the controversial legislation, insisting that its critics are only motivated by “political reasons,” because the bill would send more soldiers to a military facing a significant manpower shortage.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The Israel Defense Forces has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

For the past year, the Haredi leadership has pushed to pass a law keeping its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.

Bismuth was appointed chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in August after both of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, left the government to protest its failure to advance the long-stalled legislation, which critics have derided as an “evasion bill.”

After taking over the committee, Bismuth largely threw out a version of the bill prepared by former chairman Yuli Edelstein — which the Haredi parties were deeply critical of — and started over. He has said that he believes Israelis must “find the balance” between Torah study and military service and that Israel needs both soldiers and Torah students.

Ultra-Orthodox soldiers from the Hasmonean Brigade take part in a ceremony, after completing seven months of basic and advanced training, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on August 6, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

“The army needs soldiers; that’s what this law does. We are a Jewish state, we respect Torah scholars; that’s what this law does. So with all due respect, those who oppose it only want one thing. What do they want? To overthrow a government, that’s all,” Bismuth said on Tuesday.

Echoing comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Bismuth claimed that the legislation would lead to the conscription of 10,000 Haredim within two years, a number he said would continue to increase going forward.

While “there will be sanctions — there will be personal sanctions, there will be institutional sanctions, there will be serious sanctions” — placed on those who are called up but refuse to serve in the military, Bismuth cautioned that it was necessary to respect the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle and that he was promoting sanctions “meant to poke the Haredim in the eye.”

Stating that he had met with many rabbis from across the Haredi community, he said that the consensus among them was that those engaged in studying Torah full-time should be allowed to continue, while those who don’t should enlist.

“I admire those who wear the uniform, but just as much — and I say this out loud — I admire those who study the Torah,” Bismuth said, adding that he was working hard on the bill to ensure that it would not be struck down by the High Court.

On Monday, Bismuth announced that he was postponing a series of scheduled discussions of the bill because his committee’s legal adviser required additional time to prepare a draft of the legislation based on a document of principles he had submitted last week.

According to Hebrew-language news reports, the document stipulates that within five years, 50 percent of the annual Haredi draft cohort will be conscripted, and the age of exemption will remain at 26. Government funding for yeshivas will only be cut if they fail to meet army enlistment quotas after a year, and sanctions on individuals who do not serve in the army will only go into effect after two years if the overall enlistment goal is not met.

Moreover, those sanctioned will not lose their driver’s licenses, although restrictions on issuing licenses to draft evaders will apply.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest the IDF draft outside the Jerusalem enlistment center, April 28, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Bismuth’s proposal immediately drew harsh criticism from opposition politicians, who say that its real purpose is to pave the way for the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to return to the coalition after it resigned earlier this year in protest of a previous draft of the bill. Former Shas MK Ariel Attias represented the Haredi parties in negotiations over Bismuth’s new proposal for the controversial bill.

Recent efforts to enforce conscription through the arrest of draft dodgers has proven ineffective, with the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate recently telling lawmakers that a full toolbox is required, including sanctions against evaders.

“Why can a person who is legally defined as a criminal, because he evades the draft, represent lawbreakers and be a lawyer? Why can a draft dodger drive on the road?” he asked, echoing similar calls from officials from the Finance Ministry to the Attorney General’s Office.