Netanyahu: Arrests of Haredi draft dodgers ‘a deliberate attempt’ to harm their recruitment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he opposes the arrests of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.

Speaking to the Haredi Kol Berama radio station, Netanyahu says: “We must preserve the world of Torah because it preserved us. These arrests are a deliberate attempt to harm the process of drafting Haredim without coercion.”

At the same time, he says that “anyone who does not study” at yeshivas “should go enlist.”

The prime minister asserts that his coalition was “on the verge of passing a real draft law and were short by just one vote.” It is unclear what he is referring to, as there is no known case of a single vote preventing the passage of a draft bill.

“It can be passed in the next term, and it will settle the relationship between Haredim and secular Israelis for generations,” he adds. “It is a law that both preserves the world of Torah, which I respect very much, and ensures the re-sharing of the burden.”

Netanyahu’s coalition made highly controversial attempts to pass legislation that would enshrine the exemptions of the vast majority of Haredi yeshiva students from military service, an effort that was necessary to appear his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners but was highly unpopular within much of his own base.

That legislation would ostensibly increase military conscription in the Haredi community, but ultimately enable continued exemptions for full-time yeshiva students. The bill eventually drafted was widely seen as legally iffy and loophole-laden and generated intense resistance even among members of Netanyahu’s coalition. Eventually, the premier informed the Haredim in the spring that he did not have the votes to pass it.

Recently, the Haredi parties said they would not join any new coalition following the election before the legislation is fully passed.

Asked about that ultimatum, Netanyahu says: “I wish we could do this. Can we do it before the formation of the government? Who knows? It depends on goodwill, understanding, and cooperation. I know that many in the Haredi public understand that there needs to be a new sharing of the burden.”