Report: Netanyahu wants to move ahead with conscription bill after Haredi parties signal approval

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to move forward with a law regulating ultra-Orthodox military conscription and draft exemptions, Channel 12 reports, as Haredi factions within the Knesset are said to have given the legislation a nod of approval.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas and UTJ parties have been upholding a partial legislative boycott over the matter of Haredi conscription, stymying the coalition’s agenda since the start of the winter legislative session.

According to Channel 12, Netanyahu has now realized that the only way he can stabilize his coalition is to promote the passage of the bill, despite the political damage it could cause him in the long term.

The bill, drafted by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, sets a long-term target of enlisting 50% of each annual ultra-Orthodox draft cohort within five years.

Critics have accused it of being symbolic, however, as it will lower the requirements for draft exemption for yeshiva students and soften any potential sanctions in comparison to a previous proposal prepared by the ousted committee chair, Yuli Edelstein, earlier this year.

Netanyahu is hoping that the bill can be passed into law, or at least be close to becoming law, within the next month, the report says.

It adds that the legislation appears to have the necessary votes to pass into law, as the Degel Hatorah faction of UTJ has given it the green light following conversations with Shas, which also appears set to support its passage.

The Agudat Yisrael faction of UTJ is divided on whether it should support or oppose the bill, Channel 12 adds, although the faction is too small to sway the vote without the other Haredi lawmakers.

The report notes, however, that even if the bill advances, solving one of Netanyahu’s headaches, it is likely to cause him others, as the extent to which it is an exemption law, rather than a conscription law, may become clear as it advances through the Knesset.

Sam Sokol contributed to this report.