PM’s adviser: Haredi IDF bill will pass ‘with or without’ committee chair Edelstein
Remarks suggest Netanyahu considering removing or bypassing senior Likud lawmaker; Edelstein says committee will soon start drafting final version of legislation
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
An associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ultra-Orthodox representatives that the government plans on passing a controversial bill on Haredi draft exemptions “with or without” Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, according to recordings published Wednesday.
The remarks, made by Netanyahu adviser Nevo Katz to unspecified representatives of the Haredi community, seemed to suggest that the prime minister was considering either removing the senior Likud lawmaker from his position or bypassing his committee completely.
Despite the prime minister’s assurances to his ultra-Orthodox allies, the legislation, derided by critics as an “evasion law,” has long been stuck in committee, with Edelstein pledging that he will “only produce a real conscription law that will significantly increase the IDF’s conscription base.”
Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners have been pushing for the passage of legislation regulating military exemptions for yeshiva students and other members of the Haredi community, after the High Court ruled in June last year that the dispensations, in place for decades, were illegal since they were not based in law.
In the recording, which was published by the Behadrei Haredim news site, Katz can be heard accusing Edelstein of failing to cooperate with the government on the legislation, and appeared to dismiss public pressure to pass a bill that conscripts Haredi men.
“There is great pressure on him from the national religious public. The national religious say what? The Haredim should enlist, yada, yada, yada,” Katz said — adding that the bill “will pass — with or without him.”
Asked to respond to the report, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said that it was “not offering comment on [the] draft law.”
In a post on X, Edelstein’s spokesman Maayan Samun stated that “the only pressure we have is from the reservists and the families of the fighters and reserve soldiers.”
“The only conscription law that will be promoted in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is a real, correct and effective law. One that recruits Haredim to the army and relieves the burden on those serving,” he wrote.
A source of internal dissent
Edelstein has long stood as a barrier to the controversial legislation’s passage, personally signing a declaration of principles calling for mass mobilization of Haredi men as well as the imposition of “personal and financial sanctions” on those who fail to obey draft orders.
He has also explicitly stated that he is under no obligation to agree with the position of the government on the issue of ultra-Orthodox enlistment, rejecting a plan proposed by Defense Minister Israel Katz to gradually increase the number of ultra-Orthodox recruits year-over-year until it hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.
According to Hebrew media reports, Netanyahu met with Edelstein in January to push him to advance the law, and those close to the prime minister informed Edelstein that he could be replaced as committee chairman if he does not play ball.
A spokesman for Edelstein denied at the time that any threats had been issued. The following month, he again rejected what he called “conspiracy theories” that said the coalition would transfer the discussion on the bill to another committee.
Speaking with The Times of Israel on Wednesday, a coalition source said that while the option of creating a special committee to deal with the enlistment issue is “on the table,” Netanyahu “will try to avoid it” if possible.
While the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox parties have delivered several ultimatums to Netanyahu regarding the bill, none of them were seen as serious, so the prime minister will only do an end run around Edelstein “if there is a real ultimatum” that would bring down the coalition, the source assessed, adding that Netanyahu would rather sideline Edelstein than remove him.
While the coalition’s Haredi parties have backed down on previous ultimatums, they have reportedly discussed issuing further ultimatums in the future.
Edelstein is not the only Likud lawmaker to draw the ire of his party over opposition to coalition legislation. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has repeatedly called for establishing a new “media committee” to bypass the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, whose chairman, MK David Bitan, has blocked legislation that would shutter public broadcaster Kan — a key piece of Karhi’s media overhaul agenda.
Advancing the bill
Addressing his committee on Wednesday in the wake of Nevo Katz’s comments, Edelstein announced that it will continue hearing testimony and background data for several more sessions before drafting a final version of the bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription.
“We will continue with a few more final debates to cover all the relevant material and hear from all the relevant parties, and then we will move on to writing the draft law,” he said, as lawmakers were presented with data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showing that ultra-Orthodox Jews currently constitute nearly a quarter of the annual draft cohort of 18-year-old Jewish males in Israel.
The data showed that 24.4 percent, or 14,035, out of 57,424 18-year-olds who will be eligible to draft this year are ultra-Orthodox — a figure that is expected to rise to 27.2% by 2030.
Failing to meet conscription targets
The army has stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of whom would be combat troops.
Currently, approximately 70,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted. The IDF has sent out 18,915 initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community in several waves since July 2024 but, according to Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, head of the Haredi branch of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, only 232 of those who have received orders have enlisted — 57 of them in combat roles.
Addressing Edelstein’s committee on Wednesday, Dickstein said that despite aiming to recruit 4,800 Haredi men during the 2024-2025 draft cycle, only 1,721 have enlisted thus far.
“We set ourselves a target of 4,800 and we will not reach that. There is an upward trend here, but it is not sufficient and does not correspond to the very large operational need,” he said.
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