Ultra-Orthodox parties said to threaten new boycott until army exemptions legislated

The Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties are reportedly threatening to again boycott coalition-backed legislation in the Knesset until a bill is passed to legislate exemptions from army service for the young men of their community.

The threat relates to private member bills submitted by coalition lawmakers, Channel 12 said in an unsourced report Saturday.

It would mark a return to a strategy applied earlier this year in an effort to force the government to move ahead with the demanded legislation.

Delays over a bill in the works to provide sweeping exemptions from national army service for members of the ultra-Orthodox community, also called Haredim, led the parties to say, earlier this month, that they would back a bill to dissolve the Knesset and trigger elections. A last-minute compromise on the bill saw the Haredi parties pull their support, and the dissolution was voted down.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leaning on Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, to make progress with the bill and put forward a proposal soon, even if it is clear that it would not actually make it to a parliamentary vote, the report said. Edelstein’s committee is overseeing the preparation of the bill.

According to the report, Edelstein also doesn’t like the compromise that was reached with Haredi parties, but he agreed because he knew that Israel was planning to attack Iran and didn’t want there to be political instability in the Knesset, fearing that might influence the US decision to join the campaign, which it eventually did. Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, saying its nuclear and ballistic missile programs posed an existential threat to the Jewish state. The US joined the campaign last week, bombing key Iranian nuclear sites, and then brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

With the 12-day war over, the Haredi parties are now again campaigning for the exemption bill to advance through the Knesset.

Groups advocating for Haredi service are set to meet with Edelstein later this week, Channel 12 said. They have already made it clear that the compromise proposal is unacceptable to them.

Netanyahu spoke with Edelstein on Friday to provide him with a security update. During their talks, the two also discussed the Haredi draft law, sources told the Israel Hayom outlet.

Sources in Edelstein’s orbit were quoted as saying that he plans to speak with Haredi representatives about making “improvements” to the compromise framework.

Edelstein had previously said he would only allow legislation to pass through his committee if it included sanctions against ultra-Orthodox men who flout enlistment orders. The compromise agreement called for a softened version of the bill regulating mandatory enlistment requirements within the ultra-Orthodox community and punishing draft dodgers.

Public outrage over Haredi draft evasion has swelled, with many reservists having served for hundreds of days since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Lawmakers within the coalition and the opposition have been pushing for legislation that would end the longstanding exemption of yeshiva students from military service to make up for a wartime manpower shortage and ease the burden on reservists.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, had the government sought to recruit some 80,000 Haredi draft evaders at the same rate that it has recruited non-Haredi Jews, rounds of reserve duty could have been shortened by roughly 86 percent.

Last week, MK Moshe Gafni, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Degel Hatorah faction — part of the United Torah Judaism party — sparked anger when he said he doesn’t see why Israel is still fighting in Gaza.

His remarks were seen as a move to undermine the demand to draft more Haredi men into the army.