Edelstein rejects Katz’s call for gradual increase in Haredi recruits: ‘There’s no time… the army needs soldiers’

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"

MK Yuli Edelstein attends a discussion on the IDF conscription law at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he chairs, Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Yuli Edelstein attends a discussion on the IDF conscription law at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he chairs, Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein dismisses Defense Minister Israel Katz’s call to gradually increase the number of ultra-Orthodox recruits over the next seven years, declaring that he “will not settle for a temporary solution or, alternatively, a process that will take many years.”

In a video message recorded following a tour of the IDF’s new ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade’s training base, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman says, “We don’t have the time or the luxury to wait any longer. The army needs many fighters.”

“The committee I chair will only issue a law on recruitment in high numbers, with a corresponding increase in the scope of recruitment and sanctions,” he says.

During a hearing in Edelstein’s committee earlier this week, Katz pushed back against the military’s assertion that it will soon be able to conscript ultra-Orthodox men without restriction, telling lawmakers that the number of Haredim drafted into the military should be increased gradually year-over-year until it hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.

Katz is slated to address the committee again next Wednesday.

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