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Monday, February 24, 2025
Defense committee chair Edelstein vows Haredi conscription bill ‘will have teeth’
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"
The Haredi conscription bill currently being debated in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee “will have teeth,” chairman Yuli Edelstein says, insisting that the legislation will contain sanctions on both institutions and individuals.
“The principle of, ‘You didn’t serve, you don’t get,’ should apply to everyone,” he says, addressing a conference organized by the right-wing Israel National News site.
Edelstein’s committee this week is debating the issue of sanctions in a series of meetings aimed at hammering out the outlines of an eventual Haredi enlistment law.
The bill “does indeed talk about recruiting Haredim, but the recruitment rates among the general public can and should also be improved in order to bring more soldiers to the IDF,” Edelstein adds.
The Times of Israel Community.