Bismuth to Haredi weekly: ‘You can’t force people to enlist in the army’

Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who is spearheading the effort to pass a bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription, tells a leading Haredi publication that people can’t be forced to join the Israel Defense Forces.

“You can’t force people to enlist in the army,” Bismuth says in an interview with the Mishpacha weekly, according to a quote splashed across its front page this morning. “What, you’re going to put everyone in jail? What nonsense.”

The chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee adds, “I’m a person who loves and respects the Haredim. I won’t let it get that far.”

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— עיתון משפחה (@Mishpacha_M) December 3, 2025

Most young men in Israel are obligated to enlist under Israel’s mandatory conscription.

Bismuth’s comments come as his bill has come under fire from opposition lawmakers, reservists’ groups and some within his own coalition for preserving exemptions from the draft for most Haredi men and featuring weak sanctions. The military has said it faces an acute manpower shortage.

Defenders of the bill have argued that it will add thousands to the military’s ranks in an approach that promotes consensus. Bismuth has called it a “balanced law” that is “good for the army” and “good for yeshiva students.”