Knesset panel puts off vote on extending age for end of IDF reserve service
Chairman Edelstein insists no laws will be advanced as long as the rights and benefits of reservists are not legally codified
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman MK Yuli Edelstein of Likud refused on Monday to advance a bill to extend the length of time IDF reservists are subject to mandatory service, declaring that to do so would harm Israel’s soldiers.
The bill, a temporary measure meant to last for one year, would have raised the exemption age for reserve military service from 40 to 41 for enlisted soldiers and from 45 to 46 for officers. Specialists such as doctors and air crews would be required to continue serving until they reach 50, instead of 49.
The bill was intended as a stopgap measure, to prevent a mass release from reserves next year of those who reach the exemption age as the war with Gaza continues.
“We asked to extend the exemption age by a year for the reason that not every soldier can be replaced and it is also not right for this replacement to happen during wartime,” Brig. Gen. Shai Tayeb, commander of the IDF’s Human Resources Planning and Management Division, explained in comments on the bill.
But Edelstein declared, “The committee and I cannot bear a situation in which there will be any harm to the reservists,” as he blocked a vote on allowing the bill to go for its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum, which are the final votes.
The MK said any such bill must be part of a comprehensive plan that would address all needs of reservists, including proper compensation for their extended time away from home.
“Some three months have passed since the beginning of the war. This is more than enough to present a plan and outline that will set out the benefits and rights of the active reservists,” he declared.
“As long as there is no clear plan for the benefit of the reservists, we will not advance other laws. The equation is simple: the reservists protect us, we will protect them.”
Over 360,000 Israelis were called up for reserve duty in the wake of Hamas’s brutal assault on October 7, which left over 1,200 people dead and more than 240 in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel had also expressed opposition to the extension, stating that it perpetuates a “particularly discriminatory policy and harms equality” because it increases the burden on reservists while large numbers of ultra-Orthodox Israelis are still exempt from service.
“The government and the defense minister must not on the one hand allow a blanket exemption from conscription for all yeshiva students and on the other hand raise the age for exemption from the reserves [for those who serve],” the watchdog group stated.
“We are in a situation where only a few months ago certain parties tried to convince us that the army is large and does not need all the reservists or that some sectors do not need to be mobilized,” Yesh Atid lawmaker Ram Ben Barak declared.
“Since October 7, it is clear that there needs to be a conscription law,” he said, referring to years-long efforts to set clear rules for conscription of members of the ultra-Orthodox community. “We can’t let the burden fall only on those who are willing to enlist, and the blanket exemptions should be stopped.”
Over the past decade Haredi parties have been staunch allies of Netanyahu. In return, they have enjoyed great influence of over issues of domestic policy related to religion and state, and have advanced efforts to cement the exemption for Haredi men from Israel’s mandatory military draft.
Prior to October 7, the ultra-Orthodox had launched a concerted effort to secure the passage of legislation enshrining this exemption into law, but those efforts were sidelined by the outbreak of hostilities and are now widely seen as politically unfeasible.
Addressing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee for IDF Human Resources last week, Tayeb stated that while ultra-Orthodox “society has grown demographically over the past few years… enlistment figures have remained stable in the past four years, meaning that the potential is not being realized.”
JTA contributed to this report.
