From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Elkin says Knesset must pass a Haredi draft law ‘with real teeth’
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"
Without passing a “meaningful draft law” that ensures Haredi enlistment, “the model of ‘the people’s army’ will collapse entirely,” warns Ze’ev Elkin, a New Hope party MK and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.
Addressing a conference at Tel Aviv University, Elkin, a minister within the Finance Ministry, indicates approval of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s instructions to the army’s Personnel Directorate to immediately provide a plan to drastically increase the number of draft orders sent to members of the ultra-Orthodox community, but indicates that such a move will not work unless enforcement against draft dodgers is significantly increased.
“The IDF chief of staff is currently acting in accordance with a law on a mandatory universal draft. But this issue concerns a historic mistake made decades ago, which exempted a large segment of the population from military service,” he says.
“Sending out tens of thousands of draft orders will not bring a positive result. 60,000 to 70,000 people will receive draft orders, but there will be no real enforcement. Eventually, the IDF will be forced to admit that it is not enforcing the law equally,” he argues, calling for the passage of a conscription law “with real teeth.”
“If we stay on the current path, the model of ‘the people’s army’ will collapse entirely,” Elkin warns. “For decades, nothing was done. Now we need a special law to get this moving. If this fails — we’ll be left with tens of thousands of draft orders and no capacity for the IDF to enforce them.”
Turning to politics, Elkin admits that he disagrees strongly with many of his cabinet colleagues in that he believes a national commission of inquiry into October 7 is necessary.
“I believe the government is making a mistake in not establishing this commission. I don’t think the commission would necessarily reveal any major new insights — but the public’s mistrust and polarization makes it necessary,” he says. “A state commission of inquiry would allow Israelis to feel that they’re not being misled—that something real is being done. It’s the right step, and we can’t ignore the existing crisis.”
The Times of Israel Community.