From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Katz threatens to halt Haredi draft legislation unless it preserves system of full-time yeshiva study
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatens to halt legislation on the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men unless it ensures the preservation of the “Torah world” — the network of full-time yeshivas that form the backbone of ultra-Orthodox society.
Within the coming decades, Haredim will constitute a third of Israel’s population and their integration into the country’s economy and security services is critical, Katz states, reiterating his stance that both “significant recruitment” to the military and the maintenance of the yeshiva system are nonnegotiable.
“There is an opportunity here to create broad consensus. I announced in the [Foreign Affairs and Defense] Committee that if I see during the [legislative process] that I cannot achieve one of the two goals, I will stop the legislation,” he says.
He issues a challenge: “Anyone who says that they know how to recruit 100 percent [of the Haredim] please recruit them.”
Earlier today, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, told a Knesset committee that while it would take time to recruit all eligible Haredi young men, he would implement whatever is required by law.
The Times of Israel Community.