Gallant tells Knesset it’s better to draft Haredim through regulation than legislation; says IDF needs 10,000 new soldiers

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tells a closed session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which is currently working on an ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill, that it would be preferable to deal with the issue through government regulation rather than legislation.

According to Hebrew media reports, Gallant says that while the military requires 10,000 new soldiers, it can only accommodate the enlistment of an additional 3,000 ultra-Orthodox recruits this year, beyond the 1,800 who are already drafted annually.

He claims the government had at one point agreed with the ultra-Orthodox that the Haredi quota for enlistment would rise by 5% annually until it reaches 50% of those eligible within five years, but that disagreements over whether to pass a law or regulations, coupled with arguments over sanctions for draft dodgers, torpedoed negotiations.

In the wake of the government’s inability to deal with the issue, the High Court of Justice ruled last week that there is no legal basis for exempting Haredi men from the military draft.

The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently working on an ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill that chairman Yuli Edelstein has said will advance only if there is “broad agreement,” angering the ultra-Orthodox, who see it as the only way to prevent a mass mobilization of yeshiva students.

Following the court’s decision, the Attorney General’s Office instructed the Israel Defense Forces to immediately draft 3,000 Haredim.

Edelstein has indicated that he will only support legislation that is aimed at meeting the army’s manpower needs, which have grown significantly since the beginning of the war in Gaza.