Knesset legal adviser says Haredi draft law should only be passed as temporary measure, citing problems

The government’s proposed law regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment “is not ready to be enacted as a permanent arrangement at this time” and should be passed “as a temporary provision for a maximum period of five years,” Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor declares in a legal opinion sent to members of the parliamentary panel ahead of today’s discussion of the controversial bill.

Frenkel Shor argues that the current draft of the legislation “raises a difficulty because it allows the arrangement to continue to be extended even when the recruitment targets have not been continuously met for a period of time.” Instead, it should be amended so that if recruitment goals are not met for three consecutive years, “the provisions of the law will expire and the provisions of the [current] Security Service Law will apply” instead.

The legal adviser made a similar statement to the committee last September, telling lawmakers that she recommended that they “enact the conscription law as a temporary measure and not as a permanent law: If the goals are not met, the law will expire.”

According to national broadcaster Kan, this issue has become a central matter of disagreement between Frenkel Shor and the Haredim.

A planned vote on the first reading of the 2026 state budget was canceled yesterday after the Haredi parties threatened not to vote in favor until disagreements over the IDF draft bill were resolved.

Frenkel Shor, who has expressed significant criticism of the legislation as currently written, has called for the addition of several amendments that are opposed by the Haredim, Maariv reported. Late-night discussions of the issues on Sunday had failed to bring about an agreement, leading to the delay on the budget vote.

Frenkel Shor has previously warned that the bill violates equality principles and fails to meet current security needs. She has also called for reexamining a clause ending sanctions at age 26 and argued that by effectively resetting the status of yeshiva students who ignored call-up orders over the past year, the legislation would grant legal immunity to Haredim but not to non-Haredi evaders.

According to the Haredi press, one of the key sticking points is Frenkel Shor’s opposition to a clause in the bill allowing an advisory committee to lower recruitment targets should its members feel that insufficient Haredi-oriented tracks have been established in the IDF.