Debating ultra-Orthodox enlistment law, MKs argue how to define who is Haredi

Only 32% of recruits listed as Haredim are actually ultra-Orthodox, Israel Democracy Institute researcher Gilad Malach tells Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee

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"

Ultra-Orthodox students seen at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, February 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Ultra-Orthodox students seen at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, February 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Only a small percentage of servicemen that the IDF categorizes as ultra-Orthodox actually identify that way, invalidating the army’s recruitment figures, a prominent researcher told lawmakers on Thursday, as they wrangled over how to determine who belongs to the insular religious community for the purposes of enlistment.

“Every year we also release data on the number of Haredim who enlisted, based on government data. In recent years, the number has been around 1,200,” Gilad Malach, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “I feel like I’ve deceived the public because when we checked among those who served, it turned out that only 32% of those who enlisted as Haredim defined themselves as Haredim during their service.”

At issue Thursday was a provision of a controversial conscription bill demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, which would enshrine the current legal definition of a Haredi as someone who has spent at least two years between ages 14-18 studying at a Haredi educational institution.

“The result of this very broad definition is that according to our statistics, the official number of 1,200 of Haredim serving each year in the army is a fiction,” Malach told The Times of Israel following the committee discussion.

“So the real, the accurate number is something around 400. So we can’t use this broad definition because if our aim is to recruit Haredim, we are not doing it. We are recruiting people who left the community,” he said.

Ultra-Orthodox men protest against the conscription of Haredim to the IDF in Jerusalem on October 31, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Yossi Levi, an IDF reserve officer who heads a nonprofit that works with the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion, disagreed, countering that “there is no doubt that such complex data can be analyzed incorrectly.”

“From the studies we conduct among Haredi army graduates, over 80% clearly identify with the Haredi public,” he said, arguing that while many are no longer considered Haredim by their peers, and have begun to identify themselves using different terms, they are still essentially ultra-Orthodox.

A fateful designation

Writing to committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) ahead of Thursday’s hearing, Defense Minister Israel Katz argued in favor of keeping the current definition, which would determine eligibility for recruitment as part of the proposed law’s annual enlistment targets.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs likewise argued in favor of the definition, stating that “we must define who is Haredi, otherwise we will not know to whom the targets apply.”

“In every incarnation of enlistment laws, they have always returned to this definition, precisely because they wanted the definition to be authentic, so that there wouldn’t be a case where someone would wake up in the morning, put on a black kippa and say that they are Haredi,” Fuchs told the committee.

Fuchs has previously stated that he is in favor of implementing annual enlistment targets, rather than a quota system in which a designated number of Haredim are allowed to learn full-time, while the rest are required to serve.

While the government supported the status quo in Thursday’s hearing, opposition lawmakers disagreed, arguing that the current way of defining who is Haredi undercut efforts to recruit from that sector.

Speaking with The Times of Israel, Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz said the current definition “serves Haredi evasion” and suggested the law should either require somebody to have completed four years in a Haredi high school to be considered Haredi — or omit the definition entirely.

MK Moshe Tur-Paz speaks during a Finance committee meeting at the Knesset, February 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Instead, the law should stipulate that an equal obligation to enlist applies across the board, with an “exemption quota” established for a limited number of exceptional scholars who would then be allowed to remain in yeshiva.

The committee’s legal advisor also raised issues with the current definition, noting that the courts have previously found the definition overly broad, meaning that those who have left the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle could potentially be enlisted as Haredim.

Asked by MK Yaakov Asher of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party what the status would be for someone who became ultra-Orthodox two days before his 17th birthday, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon replied that there would be seemingly “no difference” between him and a born-and-raised Haredi in the eyes of the law.

Thursday’s enlistment debate came only a day after the ultra-Orthodox Shas party backtracked on a threat to bring down the government unless it passes the enlistment bill within the next two months.

The army recently told the committee that, assuming it is provided with the necessary resources, it will be able to absorb Haredim “without any restrictions” starting in 2026.

However, Defense Minister Katz has argued that this is not practical and has instead pushed for gradually increasing the number of Haredim drafted into the military until it reaches 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.

Most Popular
read more: