Finance Ministry paper reportedly says draft bill won’t lead to a bump in Haredi enlistment

By Sam Sokol 1 December 2025, 9:27 pm

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Sam 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"

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor (right) and chairman Boaz Bismuth during a discussion on ultra-Orthodox conscription, September 8, 2025. (Dani Shem-Tov/ Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)

A senior official in the Finance Ministry’s budget department has assessed that the recently unveiled bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription will not lead to an increase in enlistment, and could instead reduce the number of Haredim who join the military, Channel 12 reports.

The assessment was written to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee legal advisor Miri Frenkel Shor. According to the network, the budget department warns that the bill jettisons the most effective sanctions against draft evaders, such as yeshiva stipends and daycare subsidies, while also artificially inflating enlistment rates by counting Haredim who choose to engage in civilian national service rather than join the military.

The Finance Ministry has long advocated for harsh sanctions on draft evaders. In a position paper sent to members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee earlier this year, Yogev Gardos, the head of the ministry’s budget department, argued that sanctions would only be effective if they have a significant impact on household income, continue “over a long period of time,” and cannot be bypassed through alternative funding channels.

According to Gardos, benefits that could be cut under a sanctions regime for draft dodgers include daycare subsidies, yeshiva stipends, discounts on National Insurance Institute payments, housing subsidies, and property tax discounts.

Sanctions should also be personal and tied directly to the actions of an individual, rather than being linked to the collective failure to meet enlistment targets, Gardos added, asserting that to do otherwise would undercut any incentive to enlist.

The Finance Ministry made the same points in a 16-page opinion sent to the Defense Ministry in December, and an internal position paper circulated several days later.