Likud MK: Government benefits should be conditioned on military service

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"

Likud MK Moshe Saada at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on February 4, 2025 (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Likud MK Moshe Saada at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on February 4, 2025 (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Likud lawmaker Moshe Saada rejects the debate over whether annual enlistment targets or conscription quotas are better for mobilizing the ultra-Orthodox, stating that neither approach will work.

“If you come to the yeshiva and say ‘we’re recruiting you,’ I’ll ask ‘why me and not him?’ he says.

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee during a debate over the Haredi enlistment bill, Saada says that the only solution is to condition government benefits on military service.

“The simple way is ‘you don’t serve, you don’t receive’ and that’s for everybody,” he says, arguing that this should also apply to Israel’s Arab population, which is exempt from service.

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