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Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Government source optimistic Haredi enlistment law can be reached, as Knesset panel discusses matter
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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"
Speaking with The Times of Israel, a senior government official expresses optimism regarding the possibility of passing an ultra-Orthodox enlistment law, stating that a compromise agreed to by the Haredi parties and then-Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein in June could serve as the basis for legislation acceptable to the parties.
Even United Torah Judaism’s Agudat Yisrael faction, which has expressed extreme skepticism regarding the possibility of passing a bill both sides can support, will fall in line, the source asserts, arguing that the Haredi parties will come back to the table as the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, under new chairman Boaz Bismuth, formulates a new draft of the legislation based on Edelstein’s compromise.
According to the source, the Haredim will eventually acquiesce to a bill containing strong sanctions, although possibly not as strong as those advanced by Edelstein — whom he accuses of having gone back on his word because he feared that adhering to his compromise would make him look like he folded on the issue.
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently meeting to discuss the issue of Haredi enlistment, its first hearing under Bismuth’s leadership. Addressing the committee, the Likud MK says that people keep calling a conscription bill “unrealistic” but that it is time to discuss what is possible and that his committee is the right environment because “everybody here is in favor of a conscription law.”
The Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), have been pushing hard for the passage of a bill enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service.
Last month, UTJ quit the coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by Edelstein (Likud), which, it argued, had violated the terms of a compromise reached in June. They were quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, remained part of the coalition.
Edelstein’s bill would have imposed harsh sanctions on draft evaders, including the revocation of drivers’ licenses, a ban on flying abroad, a prohibition on applying for civil service jobs, an end to government subsidies for purchasing an apartment, and cancellation of discounts on public transportation, National Insurance payments, and electricity bills.
To mollify the Haredim, the coalition replaced Edelstein with Bismuth last week.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, ahead of today’s committee meeting, Haredi representatives presented Bismuth with a list of demands, including the cancellation of tens of thousands of conscription orders sent to ultra-Orthodox men over the past year and limits on institutional sanctions against yeshivas that fail to meet enlistment targets.
The Times of Israel Community.