Likud lawmakers hold conference calling for Haredi draft, sanctions on dodgers
Edelstein says passage of potent enlistment law would allow him to look wives and mothers of soldiers ‘in the eye’; Chikli calls for breaking Haredi ‘taboo’ against IDF service
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"
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli came out firmly in support of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein’s push for a strong ultra-Orthodox conscription law on Tuesday evening, telling a party gathering in Jerusalem that the veteran Likud lawmaker was “the right man” to handle the issue.
“I am confident that he will advance the most serious outline there is” and he has “serious” backing to do so, Chikli declared — appearing to place himself on Edelstein’s side in an internal party dispute with Defense Minister Israel Katz, who has presented a starkly different vision for how to advance Haredi enlistment to the IDF.
Edelstein has rejected Katz’s proposal, which calls 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.
Instead, Edelstein has insisted that he will “only issue a law for recruitment in high numbers,” signing a declaration of principles calling for the “immediate” enlistment of 4,800 Haredim followed by the mobilization of all eligible Israelis, in accordance with the needs and capacity of the army, starting in 2026.
The IDF has said it will have the capacity to absorb Haredim “without any restrictions” starting in 2026 — a position rejected by Katz, who believes that no progress can be made without reaching an agreement with Haredi rabbinical leaders.
Tuesday evening’s gathering, entitled “The Likud Mobilizes,” was attended by a handful of party lawmakers, including Edelstein, Chikli and fellow MKs Dan Illouz and Moshe Saada. Its stated goal was to advance a recruitment outline that appears consistent with that of Edelstein.
Its organizers called for both personal sanctions against draft dodgers and institutional penalties for Haredi educational institutions whose students enlist in low numbers.
Edelstein’s longtime opposition to the demands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies that the coalition pass a bill that broadly maintains their wide-scale exemption from IDF or other national service has caused pushback within the Likud.
According to Hebrew media reports, Netanyahu met with the Likud MK last month to push him to advance the law.
While Netanyahu refrained from making any explicit threats, those close to the prime minister were said to have informed Edelstein that he could be replaced as committee chairman if he does not play ball, a claim Edelstein’s spokesman denies.
Defense Minister Katz was initially slated to attend Tuesday’s gathering but canceled at the last minute, citing the developments surrounding the ceasefire in Gaza.
Describing the widespread exemptions enjoyed by Haredim as “immoral” and damaging to Israel’s economy and security, Chikli called for breaking the “taboo” against military service among the ultra-Orthodox.
“Once there is a critical mass from the heart of the Haredi community,” things will begin to change, he said, warning that unless even a “tacit agreement” can be reached with the rabbinic leadership, “then the alternatives for the Haredi community will actually be much worse.”
Edelstein, in his address, blamed the IDF for initially not giving his committee detailed figures on its potential ability to absorb ultra-Orthodox recruits, even though the military has now “changed direction” on the issue.
Since receiving the IDF’s estimates, the responsibility now rests with lawmakers to “rise above our own fantasies or dreams” and pass a law “that provides a real, practical solution relatively quickly,” but that does not mean that “we immediately have to agree to everything,” he said.
“I think that the red lines we are setting are very, very clear and the numbers should be realistic numbers in accordance with the IDF’s assessments.”
Turning to the issue of sanctions, Edelstein called for both personal sanctions and sanctions against Haredi institutions if recruitment targets are not met.
“No one will come to you with handcuffs, but state benefits will go to people who contributed,” he said. “No one intends to take away basic things from people, [like] child benefits or social security or things like that, but the state gives a lot of discounts and benefits and subsidies in all kinds of areas.”
If such a law is passed, “then I will finally be able to look into the eyes of the wives of reservists or mothers of soldiers… [and] be able to look them in the eye and say that as an elected official, I did my part,” Edelstein said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Institute for Haredi Strategy and Policy, an ultra-Orthodox organization, presented its own enlistment plan, which, while very different from Edelstein’s, also diverged sharply from the staunch opposition to the draft voiced by leading Haredi rabbis.
According to Channel 12, the institute proposed conscripting tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF reserves once they reach the age of 26, which until recently was the official age of exemption for yeshiva students from military service.
The institute’s founder rejected any move to recruit yeshiva students, however, stating that doing so was “a cynical attempt to take the critical question of the security of the State of Israel and turn it into a spade to dig against the Torah and its students.”
