Haredim give enlistment bill demands to new Knesset defense panel chief Bismuth

By Sam Sokol 11 August 2025, 9:35 pm

2 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"

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road during a protest against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order in Jerusalem on August 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Ahead of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s first discussion of ultra-Orthodox enlistment since the ouster of former chairman Yuli Edelstein, Haredi representatives presented his replacement, Boaz Bismuth, with a list of demands.

According to national broadcaster Kan, among the demands are 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 Haredim also demanded that a clause in Edelstein’s proposed enlistment bill requiring yeshiva students to sign in and out of yeshiva using a fingerprint reader in order to oversee attendance be stricken from the legislation.

Members of Bismuth’s committee were informed last week that they would meet to discuss advancing the government’s controversial enlistment legislation on Tuesday, in preparation for the second and third readings necessary for it to pass into 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 then-committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud), which, it argued, had violated the terms of a supposed 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, a fellow Likud MK.