Immigration minister vows to vote against Haredi enlistment bill ‘even if it means PM fires me’

Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer (Religious Zionism) promises to vote against the government’s controversial bill on ultra-Orthodox enlistment, declaring that he will do so even if it costs him his position in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

“Last Thursday, the draft outline of the conscription law was presented, and this morning the marathon of discussions began. The train has started moving, and I want to establish an emergency brake here,” Sofer tells reporters in the Knesset.

“This is a shameful law, devoid of any public courage, a law that struggles to look our ultra-Orthodox partners in the eye and to tell them it is time to take action,” he continues, pledging that he will “vote against this law, even if it means the prime minister will fire me.”

Pledging to “do everything I can to persuade my colleagues in Religious Zionism to oppose the proposed disgrace,” Sofer says he has three principles guiding his position on conscription: “First, the support and endorsement of the ultra-Orthodox leadership; second, real and immediate change; third, a temporary measure [on exemptions], not an exemption extending decades into the future.”

Slamming the government’s “bluff,” Sofer says that the easiest thing to do is “to legislate in a way that gives us time, which won’t be overturned by the Supreme Court” and allow the government to get past the next elections.

Criticizing how the bill postpones sanctions for a year and a half, Sofer demands the immediate conscription of four battalions’ worth of soldiers for the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade.

Queried if he would oppose the measure even if its failure would mean the fall of the government, Sofer responds that he has long stated that he would not topple the government but that there are values that “we go to the grave with.”

Asked by The Times of Israel if he believed there is sufficient opposition to the bill within the coalition to ensure its failure, Sofer replies that “coalition members must face reality” and that “there are enough votes” to reject it.

While Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich, who Sofer says was informed of his position ahead of today’s press conference, has not explicitly stated that he will oppose the bill, the party last week stated that it would “only vote for a law that will lead to real and rapid recruitment of Haredim into the IDF to meet security needs and ease the burden on fighters, reservists, and their families.”

Prior to Sofer’s announcement, party MKs Moshe Solomon and Michal Woldiger indicated they would not back the current bill. Speaking with the national-religious news site Kipa on Sunday, Woldiger stated that “the law as it stands will not bring the solution” to the IDF’s manpower shortage.

Speaking with The Times of Israel following Sofer’s press conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel (New Hope) says that the bill does not provide the necessary manpower for Israel’s “next confrontation” with its enemies and that “there is not a majority in the coalition” in favor of passing it into law.