Minister says ‘right will be crushed’ in election if coalition passes Haredi draft exemption law

Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer says legislation exempting yeshiva students from military conscription would severely harm the right’s prospects for the next election.

“If the law is advanced despite the anger of the reservists, the right will be crushed. It will pay an electoral price for it, certainly in the gross total, and even if you look at more specific frameworks,” says the minister from the far-right Religious Zionism party in a recording from a parlor meeting obtained and broadcast by national broadcaster Kan.

Sofer further questions why Haredi rabbis aren’t calling on their followers who are not enrolled in full-time yeshiva studies to enlist.

Sofer is one of several coalition MKs who has come out against the controversial bill, holding a press conference in December to announce that he would vote against it, “even if it means the prime minister will fire me.”

While Religious Zionism has yet to announce how it will vote on the bill, party head and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparred with United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf over the issue of conscription in the Knesset last week after the ultra-Orthodox party came out against a series of economic reforms he is pushing as part of the 2026 state budget.

During the argument, Smotrich demanded that Goldknopf publicly state that those not learning in yeshiva should enlist, arguing that if he said so then the majority of lawmakers would vote for the government draft exemption bill.