Katz envisions half of Haredi men eventually enlisting while rest stay in ‘Torah world’
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair warns against coalition efforts to bypass his panel on ultra-Orthodox conscription issue; Lapid slams bill as ‘a complete sham’
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"
While the lack of ultra-Orthodox Israelis in the security services causes harm to the state, the “Torah world” of yeshivas is also an important part of the country’s identity, Defense Minister Israel Katz declared on Monday, calling for dialogue with the Haredim.
Addressing lawmakers in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Katz called for annual recruitment targets within what he termed a reasonable range, playing up the idea that half of eligible draftees could end up serving while the rest continue studying in yeshivas.
At the same hearing, chairman Yuli Edelstein warned against any attempt to bypass his committee on the issue of ultra-Orthodox enlistment.
“On the matter of the enlistment bill, we strongly hope that in the end, as I also pledged to the committee members, we will reach a real enlistment bill that will give genuine solutions to the personnel in the IDF, with gradual integration of the Haredi public,” he said, according to a Knesset readout of the closed session.
A bill dealing with the issue of Haredi conscription has been stuck in the committee for months, with Edelstein stating that he won’t allow the legislation to advance unless lawmakers reach broad consensus on the matter.
“In light of all kinds of reports alleging that the minister has already reached understandings behind the back of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair, let it be clear: there is no such thing as behind the back of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” Edelstein told lawmakers.
“All the things we want to enact will be brought to here and will undergo all the necessary adaptations and changes, regardless of understandings of one kind or another.”
It was unclear how Edelstein responded to Katz’s approach, but the former has previously criticized the IDF for providing what he believes are lowball estimates for how many ultra-Orthodox recruits it can accommodate.
Edelstein’s comments came after Aryeh Deri, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, told the pro-government Channel 14 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured him on Sunday the enlistment bill would pass the committee within a week to ten days.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, when asked by Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal about Deri’s comments, Katz replied that he was not aware of any such commitment.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid dismissed Katz’s proposal, tweeting that “the Haredim are pretending that this is a draconian plan, but the truth is that this is a complete sham that will not advance Haredim recruitment.”
Passing the bill has become one of the chief legislative priorities of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, which in October appeared to retrain from — at least temporarily — a threat to derail government budget talks over the issue.
Failure to pass a budget by March 31 would result in the automatic dissolution of the government and early elections. UTJ did not oppose the budget during Monday evening’s votes.
Instead, UTJ it put its weight behind the so-called Daycare Bill, which seeks to circumvent a High Court ruling preventing state-funded daycare subsidies from going to the children of ultra-Orthodox men who evade the draft.
However, due to internal opposition from within the coalition, that bill was removed from the Knesset agenda.
With the firing of former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant early last month, Edelstein remains the final major obstacle to the controversial bill’s passage.
