Lapid accuses Katz of buying Haredi vote for budget with secret IDF draft proposal
Opposition leader calls on defense minister to reveal the document, which he says guarantees no ultra-Orthodox men will be enlisted into the army
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, speaking to the Knesset plenum on Monday, claimed Defense Minister Israel Katz has a secret document outlining the principles of an ultra-Orthodox draft law that was presented to Haredi parties to win their support for the budget. He maintains that it will in fact exempt all ultra-Orthodox youth from military service.
“Without this document, the Haredim weren’t going to vote for the budget last week,” Lapid said. “Then they voted, unanimously, for the budget. Why did they change their mind? They weren’t persuaded. They received the commitment they asked for.”
“The Haredim are happy with this document… because it says not one Haredi person will be drafted. There won’t be a draft. It’s a total fraud,” Lapid said.
He accused the government of lying twice when asked if such an agreement existed and called on the defense minister to present the alleged document publicly, or else “he will lose what little of the public’s trust he has left” and will be remembered as “the Minister for Evasion Affairs.”
The Yesh Atid chief claimed that ex-defense minister Yoav Gallant was fired because he refused to sign off on a previous version of the same document and that IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was also being pushed out of his role for opposing it.
The opposition leader called on journalists to expose the document, reiterated his call for Katz to do so, and vowed that he would expose it if no one else did.
Finally, Lapid addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the premier has “sent fighters, for a year and two months, to a war caused by your irresponsibility, for which you are guilty. They’re killed every day, they’re wounded every day, their lives are destroyed, their families are crushed. If this law passes, how will you look them in the eyes?”
“If this law passes, you have no right to send a single soldier to war. Whoever signs off on a distinction between blood and blood has no mandate to manage the war, and has no mandate to lead the state,” Lapid said.
In June, the High Court of Justice ruled that there was no legal basis for the decades-long practice of exempting Haredi men from the military draft. A bill that would “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription is currently stuck in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, whose chairman, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, has said that it will only pass if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.
The Haredi religious and political leadership have fiercely resisted any effort to force members of the community to serve in the military.
According to an internal analysis of the economic impact of the legislation issued by the Finance Ministry’s budget department, the bill has “significant flaws” and would fail to ease the burden on Israel’s reservists.
Recruiting as few as 1,000 additional Haredim for combat service annually would give reservists about two more weeks off a year, the paper predicted, pointing to the ultra-Orthodox as the country’s best resource for untapped military manpower. The same benefits would not be realized if they enlist to volunteer for nonmilitary roles under the alternative national service program.
Critics say the decades-long arrangement giving the ultra-Orthodox a pass unfairly burdens the rest of the population, a sentiment that has intensified since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught and the ensuing war, in which more than 780 soldiers have been killed and some 300,000 citizens were called up to reserve duty.
Due to the burden of the war, reservists have spent long months in the army, during which time they are unable to work. Usually, reservists only serve up to one month a year.
