From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 11, 2025
After Bank of Israel report, Lapid says it’s ‘utter madness’ to keep subsidizing Haredi draft evasion
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
It is “utter madness” to subsidize ultra-Orthodox draft evasion, declares Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, following the release of a report by the Bank of Israel warning that the coalition’s proposed Haredi draft exemption law will not result in enough soldiers enlisting to cover the country’s security needs or reduce the economic costs of reserve duty.
“The Bank of Israel is essentially saying that continuing to advance the draft exemption for thousands of Haredi youths has a destructive impact on the Israeli economy,” Lapid declares in a statement.
“Continuing to pay 60 billion shekels a year to draft dodgers is complete madness. We will use that money to lower the cost of living for the middle class,” he continues. “We will not allow this law to pass. We will not allow the cost of living to continue to rise and the burden on the working and serving public to increase.”
Lapid is referring to allocated subsidies for the ultra-Orthodox community, including funding for yeshivas and yeshiva students, many of whom are not part of the workforce and do not serve in the army like other Jewish Israelis. He frequently cites estimates that the failure of Haredim to enlist carries an annual cost to the economy of NIS 60 billion ($18.6 billion).
The Times of Israel Community.