Smotrich: Party examining draft bill, will only vote for ‘real and rapid’ Haredi conscription

By Sam Sokol 27 November 2025, 6:50 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party announces that it is currently examining Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth’s new draft of a bill regulating Haredi conscription before deciding on its position.

“Our principle has been and remains: We will only vote for a law that will lead to real and rapid recruitment of Haredim into the IDF to meet security needs and ease the burden on fighters, reservists, and their families,” the party says in a statement.