Edelstein says any deal on Haredi enlistment must pass through his Knesset committee

Despite extended negotiations between Haredi representatives and coalition officials over the enlistment bill currently making its way through the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, no decision on revising the legislation will be taken without chairman Yuli Edelstein’s agreement, his spokesman asserts.

“We are happy about every initiative and every way to advance the enlistment law, but every outline or document discussed outside of Yuli’s office will come up for discussion with us,” Maayan Samun posts on X.

“When we receive an outline, we will discuss it and decide whether and what to adopt it. The law will be fair and effective. Nothing else is on the agenda.”

According to Hebrew media reports, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs and coalition whip Ofir Katz, along with Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik, have been directing their efforts toward finding a compromise draft of an enlistment bill that all sides can support — including the possibility that some sanctions on draft dodgers could be postponed by half a year or more.

The heart of the current crisis lies with the ultra-Orthodox leadership’s frustration with Edelstein, who has long blocked the passage of a government-backed bill enshrining the broad exclusion from IDF service for Haredim — and has instead been pledging that any law coming out of his committee would levy strong financial sanctions on draft dodgers.

Edelstein’s unwillingness to back down from this position in last-ditch talks with the Haredim brokered by Netanyahu last week was what led Haredi leaders to support dissolving the Knesset. While he has shown somewhat more flexibility in subsequent talks over recent days, it was not enough to placate Shas and United Torah Judaism.