Netanyahu: Government to focus on employing Haredim rather than conscripting them

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government plans to focus on bringing ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israelis into the workforce rather than conscript them to the military, in one of his first public comments on enlistment since retaking office in late December.

“When you get to the optimal size” for the Israel Defense Forces, Netanyahu says from the Knesset rostrum, “you stop enlistment.” Rather, he says, the question is what to do with the “extra people.”

Netanyahu says his government will answer that question by bringing a bill to encourage Haredi and Arab integration into the workforce, in line with yesterday’s cabinet decision.

He also says the coalition will improve benefits for those who do serve and clear the path toward National Service, seen as a religiously appropriate or less political alternative to military service.