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Sunday, September 7, 2025
Bismuth indicates willingness to continue military exemptions for Haredi young men registered in yeshivas
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"
Members of the ultra-Orthodox community who study full-time in yeshiva ought to be allowed to continue their studies while those who do not should be conscripted, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth declared during a recent meeting with senior Sephardic Rabbi Tzemach Mazuz, video shows.
Declaring that “we must not have a religious war,” the Likud lawmaker insisted in the Thursday meeting that it is an “honor” to serve in the IDF but adds “he who studies will [continue to] study” and will not be conscripted for military service because this provides a kind of “insurance” for the future of Judaism, according to a video of the conversation published by i24 News.
It is unclear how much of a change such an approach would make to enlistment rates. While significant numbers of Haredi men are not full-time students, many have traditionally been registered as such in yeshivas in order to avoid conscription.
Bismuth’s committee is slated to hold three days of back-to-back sessions to discuss legislation regulating Haredi enlistment this week.
It is doubtful that any bill completely exempting yeshiva students from military service, as the Haredi parties demand, will pass and if one does, it is almost certain to be struck down by the High Court of Justice, which last year ruled that long-standing IDF exemptions for yeshiva students were illegal.
The Times of Israel Community.