Knesset passes law expanding financial benefits for IDF reservists

By Ariela Karmel

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

19 November 2025, 6:18 pm

Edit

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.

The Knesset passes a law expanding financial benefits for IDF reservists, with 26 lawmakers voting in favor, with no opposition or abstentions.

Under the terms of the law, reservists who earn below the income-tax threshold will receive a monthly supplement averaging NIS 3,000 ($936) for each month of reserve duty, topping up their monthly incomes up to NIS 9,800 ($3,000). The bill will be implemented starting in January 2026 and apply to service in 2025.

Those who serve at least 110 days of reserve duty per year will receive the largest tax credit. But the legislation also says that in 2028, when reserve-duty requirements are expected to shrink, the threshold for receiving the highest tier of tax credit will fall proportionally.

“This law, which brings benefits to combat reservists, is a good law, but it is far from repaying the debt that Israeli society owes them,” says Finance Committee chair and Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky.

“The law the Knesset approved today expresses the principle of simple justice: those who contribute more, receive more,” says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a statement. “This is a Zionist, moral, and economic policy. This is how you build a state that values its defenders, and this is how you create a real incentive for significant reserve service.”

The bill was stalled in the Finance Committee for several weeks due to disagreements over who would actually benefit from the tax credit, and that reservists who earn less than the tax threshold would see little to no financial gain, while higher-income reservists would receive the full benefit.

Smotrich, who heads the far-right Religious Zionism party, announced that his faction would refuse to vote with the coalition until the bill was brought for approval, causing a nearly weeklong legislative boycott until he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a compromise last week.