Haredi MK accuses lawmakers of racism against community during debate on conscription bill

By Sam Sokol 1 December 2025, 11:55 am

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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"

United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush accuses lawmakers of racism against Haredim during a debate on a controversial bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox conscription.

“Many here don’t respect Torah learners. But I am proud to represent them,” he says, recalling then-Israeli ambassador Chaim Herzog tearing up a resolution equating Zionism and racism at the UN General Assembly in 1975.

“So what are we hearing here? That the Haredim don’t enlist? Yesterday I approached the Knesset Research and Information Center and found out that there are many Bedouins who don’t enlist. There are Druze who don’t enlist and there are others who don’t enlist. But under the pressure of the attorney general, the law applies only to the Haredim even though there are others who don’t enlist? And this is happening in a country under Jewish rule,” declares Porush.

“Like when Herzog of blessed memory tore up that miserable UN resolution, it would be appropriate to tear up this law,” he says.

While the bill significantly weakens sanctions and enforcement against draft evaders compared to earlier proposals, officials in Porush’s Agudat Yisrael faction have expressed opposition to legislation imposing sanctions of any kind.

Responding to Porush, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel (New Hope) declares that “many members of the Druze, Circassian, Christian, Bedouin, and even Muslim communities do enlist because they understand what’s out there. They understand our enemies better than we understand them and understand that this land needs to be protected.”

Turning to Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud), Haskel says that under his proposed bill, “over the next two years, not a single Haredi will be drafted,” and that even after the law starts to take effect, the implementation of sanctions will be delayed.

“We understand that manpower is one of the cornerstones of the security preparation for the next conflict. And what are we doing to the morale of our soldiers? The motivation?”