From the Liveblog of
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Lapid says if opposition takes power, benefits for Haredi men who don’t enlist in IDF will be cut
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"
When the opposition takes power it will cut government benefits for every ultra-Orthodox man who refuses to enlist in the IDF, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares, calling such people “criminals” who “shouldn’t receive a reward from the state.”
Speaking with reporters ahead of a meeting of his Yesh Atid party in Tel Aviv, Lapid notes that while the IDF is now calling up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of an expected expanded Gaza offensive, tens of thousands of “young Haredi men of draft age are currently evading conscription with the active encouragement of the Netanyahu government.”
“There have been nearly a thousand deaths in the security forces since October 7, half of them are under the age of 21,” Lapid states. “What they all have in common is that they were called up and they came. They received a draft order, and it never occurred to them to dodge or refuse.”
“Why are they being called again? Because the IDF doesn’t have enough soldiers,” he continues, noting recent IDF figures showing that out of 18,915 Haredi men issued conscription orders during the current enlistment cycle, only 232 have joined the army.
Overall, just over 1,800 Haredim have enlisted in the IDF since last summer, far less than the military’s goal of 4,800.
“Almost 99 percent of the Haredim who received an order did not enlist in the IDF. They evade because the government lets them. In the past year, the number of Haredim who were detained for questioning because they did not report for enlistment is 340. How many of them are currently in custody? As far as we were able to tell, one,” Lapid says, adding that the government is spending billions of shekels for government benefits for draft dodgers.
However, there would be no need to go after draft dodgers on the streets if benefits are cut, he declares.
“This is the law. The law says that every young man in Israel must enlist, and anyone who doesn’t enlist is a criminal. Anyone who is a criminal shouldn’t receive a reward from the state. I’m announcing [that] the day we form the government, the principle will be simple: anyone who doesn’t enlist, won’t receive a single shekel from the State of Israel.”
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