Likud MK Bismuth releases copy of proposed bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox draft

By Sam Sokol 27 November 2025, 4:42 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"

MK Boaz Bismuth, chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, leads a committee meeting at the Knesset, September 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud lawmaker Boaz Bismuth releases a copy of his proposed bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox conscription and schedules three discussions of the controversial legislation in his Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for next week.

For the past year, the Haredi leadership has pushed to pass a law largely keeping its constituency out of the Israel Defense Forces, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty traditionally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

Last week the United Torah Judaism party’s Degel HaTorah faction voiced its support for the proposal and on Tuesday national broadcaster Kan reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given Bismuth a green light to advance it in committee in preparation for the final two votes needed for it to become law.