Would-be PM Bennett denounces Netanyahu’s Haredi draft law as deception, quotes Moses saying Torah students must fight during war

In a video message released to the public in response to a planned statement on ultra-Orthodox conscription by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, since postponed, former prime minister Naftali Bennett accuses the government of “advancing a law that will eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim.”

Following October 7, Israelis fought like lions, without any differentiation between left and right, religious or secular and now, following the end of the war, the IDF is facing a manpower shortage of 20,000 soldiers, he says.

“There are only two options: to draft our Haredi brothers so that they shoulder their share, or to impose on our reservists another 120 reserve days every year on a permanent basis, destroying their professional and family future,” Bennett says.

“Right now, there are about 100,000 young Haredi men obligated to enlist who can be trained within five months to the level required for the mission. It is possible, and the IDF is capable of it — but it needs government backing. Yet the government, instead of acting to draft the Haredim, is doing exactly the opposite! These days it is advancing a law that will eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim.”

Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.

According to Bennett, the bill currently being promoted by the coalition is “not a draft law” but rather a bluff, “full of formulations and tricks meant to mislead you, the public, into thinking the goal is to draft Haredim, but in practice every component of the law ensures they will not enlist.”

“For example, the law grants an immediate pardon to all draft evaders: a reward for evasion. It also states that a young Haredi who delays until age 26 will receive a lifetime exemption. Obviously everyone will do that,” he continues.

“The law is full of such deceptions. That is why the IDF opposes it. That is why former defense minister Yoav Gallant opposed it and was fired. That is why the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, opposed it and was removed. Every professional body that examined the law determined it is a bluff.”

The only reason why Netanyahu is promoting the controversial legislation is that “the Haredi parties are threatening to topple the coalition,” he argues, calling it “politics in its purest form.”

Pushing back on the Haredi claim that Torah study cannot be combined with military service, Bennett cites the Biblical passage in which Moses rebukes the tribes of Gad and Reuben by asking, “Shall your brothers go out to war while you sit here?”

“All the heroes of the Torah were warriors — Joshua bin Nun, Gideon, King David — all were great fighters! Myriads of soldiers from the religious Zionist community proved themselves in this war in all their glory, with a Gemara in hand in the heart of Khan Yunis! This is the true Judaism,” he continues, calling on “every citizen of Israel to stand together with the soldiers of the IDF against this anti-Zionist law.”