Golan says Haredim unsuitable for IDF service, Ben Gvir calls for banning party over racism

By Sam Sokol 5 August 2026, 3:21 pm

3 Edit

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"

Democrats Party Chairman Yair Golan gives a statement to the media outside the Channel 12 News studios in Tel Aviv, after the building’s entrance doors were smashed by an unidentified person overnight, July 28, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir pledges to petition the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Yair Golan, the chairman of the Democrats party, from running in the upcoming election on grounds of racism after the pro-government Channel 14 publishes a clip of the left-wing politician calling members of the ultra-Orthodox community unsuitable for military service.

In the clip, Golan can be heard telling a gathering that “there is no topic that is a victim of cheap populism quite like the drafting of the Haredim” and that it is “is impossible to draft all the Haredim tomorrow morning, even if an amazing law is passed an hour from now.”

Additionally, “we wouldn’t want to draft everyone tomorrow morning because we wouldn’t want to create an army where thousands of people arrive every enlistment cycle for whom gender segregation conditions must be set up. In short, it is impractical. We also wouldn’t want a population of people who lack education, lack motivation and lack physical capability,” Golan states.

Golan, who, like the rest of the leaders of the opposition, has been campaigning on a platform of Haredi conscription, adds that “drafting Haredim is a process.”

The former deputy IDF chief of staff, however, tweets this afternoon that there must be “conscription for all, period,” and that anyone who doesn’t enlist must complete national service.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Golan tells The Times of Israel that taken in its entirety, his remarks in the video do not contradict his previous statements on the issue: “He actually says that everyone needs to be recruited and it’s just a matter of process. This is not news,” the spokesperson asserts. “They’re just trying to come after us.”

Responding to Golan’s remarks, Ben Gvir calls him “an Israel-hater” who “spreads racist blood libels against the Haredi sector,” and pledges to petition the Central Elections Committee to disqualify him from running “due to his repulsive racism.”