Knesset panel to advance measure freezing arrests of Haredi draft evaders for 90 days

By Ariela Karmel

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28 June 2026, 7:55 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

MK Boaz Bismuth chairs a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, May 20, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair and Likud MK Boaz Bismuth says he will convene the Knesset panel this week to advance a temporary order freezing the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.

The committee is set to hold three sessions this week to advance the measure, following requests by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs today.

According to the text of the bill released by the committee, the temporary order would suspend arrests, investigations and other enforcement measures for 90 days against full-time yeshiva students eligible for military service.

Under the proposal, a yeshiva student would be defined as someone studying at least 45 hours a week at a recognized institution designated by the defense minister and approved by the committee.

If inspectors find that at least 20% of a yeshiva’s students are absent, the institution would be removed from the list of recognized yeshivas.

The proposal is one of two parallel bills being pushed by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers in the hopes of keeping yeshiva students out of the army despite the High Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling ordering the government to start conscripting Haredi men.

Since then, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community whose exemptions were revoked. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and made subject to arrest or other sanctions.

The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits, while some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted.