Deputy AG: Proposed draft law doesn’t meet IDF’s needs, contravenes High Court ruling

Katz threatens to tank enlistment bill unless it ensures the preservation of the ‘Torah world,’ the network of full-time yeshivas that form the backbone of ultra-Orthodox society

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"

Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon attends a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, January 22, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson)
Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon attends a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, January 22, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson)

A controversial plan being advanced by Defense Minister Israel Katz to recruit ultra-Orthodox soldiers will not satisfy the IDF’s manpower needs and is therefore incompatible with last summer’s High Court ruling that the government must draft Haredi yeshiva students into the military, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Limon asserted that the court’s ruling constitutes the starting point for any legislation on the issue, and mandates “general conscription, an administrative obligation on the army to enforce it equitably, and a prohibition on the state providing funding” for draft dodgers.

However, “the scope of conscription presented by the minister is lower than the army’s needs, and the rate of conscription also does not match the army’s needs in terms of force building,” he said.

In June, the court ruled that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military, since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.

It has since given the government until the end of January to explain what steps it was taking to maximize enlistment and penalize draft dodgers.

A bill dealing with the issue of enlistment is currently stuck in the committee, whose chairman, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, has stated that he will “only produce a real conscription law that will significantly increase the IDF’s conscription base.”

Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, attends a Foreign Affairs and Defense committee meeting at the Knesset on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

During Wednesday’s hearing on the proposal, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, said that the IDF needs an additional 6,000-7,000 additional combat troops, making the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men a “clear operational need.”

“I have no intention of changing the IDF’s stated position in the slightest. No one is shutting me up,” he added.

The army has previously 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 hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.

Katz listed two non-negotiable criteria that any legislation dealing with the issue would have to meet to win his support: that Haredim would engage in “real and significant service while safeguarding their lifestyle,” and that new policies would preserve the “Torah world” — the network of full-time yeshivas that form the backbone of ultra-Orthodox society.

Defense Minister Israel Katz addresses the Knesset on January 22, 2025. (Noam Moscowitz/Knesset Spokesperson’s Office)

Limon dismissed this approach, arguing that Katz’s proposal “seeks to grant an exemption from the obligation to enlist the majority of yeshiva students,” a privilege not granted to the general public.

In contrast to Katz, Kalifa told lawmakers that the IDF was “making a crazy, enormous effort,” and that he was convinced that, as we progress and succeed in recruiting our Haredi brothers, they will enlist with us.”

“What we are preparing for them will allow us to successfully recruit them. We have invested millions, we are investing enormous resources and will expand as much as necessary,” he continued — urging “much more effective sanctions” on individuals who dodge the draft in order to improve enlistment numbers.

Katz has said that without buy-in from the Haredi leadership, which is largely hostile to military service, no progress can be made. Many of his opponents believe that only strong financial pressure in the form of sanctions will create a powerful enough incentive to produce a steady stream of ultra-Orthodox recruits.

Addressing the Knesset plenum on Wednesday afternoon, Katz threatened to tank the enlistment bill currently making its way through Edelstein’s committee, unless it ensures the preservation of the “Torah world.”

“There is an opportunity here to create broad consensus. I announced in the [Foreign Affairs and Defense] Committee that if I see during the [legislative process] that I cannot achieve one of the two goals, I will stop the legislation,” he said.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein chairs a debate on ultra-Orthodox enlistment in the IDF, January 22, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson)

Following Wednesday’s stormy hearing, Edelstein announced that his committee will restart work on the bill next week, with lawmakers debating specific provisions.

The committee is scheduled to hold discussions on the bill on Monday and Thursday. On Tuesday, outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is slated to address the committee in a closed hearing.

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