Netanyahu: Soldiers can ‘enter Haredi and leave Haredi,’ thanks to efforts by IDF

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hails young ultra-Orthodox men for choosing to enlist in the IDF, speaking at a ceremony for soldiers and hesder yeshiva students at the Western Wall tunnels.

Videos online show Netanyahu being greeted with cheers upon his arrival at the ceremony, which opened the school year for ultra-Orthodox pre-military preparatory programs and hesder yeshiva students. Hesder yeshivas allow observant young men, mostly from the national-religious sector, to combine Torah studies with a shortened military service of one year and five months.

“Torah study will always continue, but a large public can combine both safra (the book) and saifa (the sword),” the premier says, using a Talmudic phrase. “And today we have refined this, with very strong efforts by the IDF, to make it possible for someone to enter Haredi and leave Haredi. To preserve both the heritage of Israel and the defense of Israel.”

He praises the efforts of the military’s new Hasmonean Brigade, a unit for ultra-Orthodox troops, and the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, also made up of largely ultra-Orthodox fighters, saying: “I saw how in their service in Gaza they eliminated dozens of terrorists in exemplary combat.”

He also notes that one of the bystanders who helped eliminate the two terrorists in the Jerusalem shooting attack earlier this week was an off-duty soldier from the Hasmonean Brigade.

Netanyahu’s remarks come amid growing public opposition to the longstanding blanket draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox, in light of the IDF’s manpower squeeze during the ongoing war in Gaza and heavy reliance on reservists. The premier has said he is working to recruit the ultra-Orthodox into the IDF, rejecting claims he is delaying the process to appease Haredi political allies.