PM denies delaying process of regulating Haredi conscription to appease ultra-Orthodox allies

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is working to recruit the ultra-Orthodox community into the IDF, and rejects claims that he is deliberately delaying this process to ensure political support from the Haredi parties.

Responding to questions about the Haredi draft exemption at a press conference for local media held at his Jerusalem office, Netanyahu says: “We are working to enlist many thousands from the ultra-Orthodox public, something that has not happened in the 77 years of the state’s existence.”

“This process takes time,” he continues, adding that “there were those who explicitly delayed the legislative process” and that it would have already been completed “if not for those delays, which were political in nature.”

Appearing to refer to the ousted chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, Netanyahu says he tried “every way to prolong committee meetings again and again so that there would be no legislation.”

“Now we have moved to a process where there will be legislation, there will be a law, and there will be enlistment,” he says.

The premier addresses public discontent over the growing burden on IDF reservists as the war in Gaza drags on, saying he “greatly values” their service.

“But we must understand that we have to complete the [war’s] mission,” he adds.