Haredi draft exemption bill expected to cancel already-sent enlistment orders — report

The bill being formulated by the coalition to regulate ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the army — while exempting most in the community — is expected to be retroactive and thus cancel thousands of draft orders that have been sent out in recent months, Channel 13 news reports.

Negotiations for the new bill have been held in recent months after the High Court of Justice ruled that the blanket exemption for most Haredim is unconstitutional and ordered the end of government subsidies for ultra-Orthodox daycares for families where a parent is meant to enlist.

Most ultra-Orthodox view enlistment in the IDF as going against their lifestyle, fearing young adults will be secularized as a result. The mostly impoverished society largely relies on government subsidies for daycares and yeshivas.

Channel 13 reports that Defense Minister Israel Katz has met and reached initial understandings with Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, the head of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, who has insisted on advancing a law that causes thousands of Haredim to enlist, complicating relations with ultra-Orthodox coalition parties.

According to the reported understandings, the bill will set recruitment goals for the army rather than quotas, meaning the army will be responsible for meeting the goals rather than the draftees. These goals will rise every year until they reach half of the Haredi men eligible for enlistment.

The news network adds that there are still disagreements. While Katz wants to stick to the 3,000 draftees that the military has said it can absorb in the first and second years, Edelstein demands a higher number to meet the IDF’s needs. Another reported disagreement relates to the severity of the sanctions imposed on yeshivas where students’ enlistment rates don’t meet the goal.