The IDF will begin procedures to draft military-age haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men on Sunday, the IDF spokesperson’s unit confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
While the call-up will be for preliminary checkups and the number is unclear, the announcement marks a turning point in an ongoing saga that could have significant security, social, economic, and political consequences.
“On Sunday, July 21, 2024, the 10th of Tammuz, there will be a procedure for initial call-up orders and for screening and evaluation processes in preparation for the recruitment of the upcoming age group, which began in July,” the statement read.
“The orders were issued as part of the IDF’s plan to promote the integration of those serving from the ultra-Orthodox sector into its ranks.
“The IDF works to recruit to its ranks from all parts of this society in light of the conscription obligation in the State of Israel, by virtue of being the people’s army and in light of the increased operational needs at this time, in view of the security challenges.
“The IDF will continue to act in accordance with the decision of the political level and in accordance with the law,” the statement concluded.
IDF officials said in closed-door meetings last week that they would at first be sending out draft notices to those who were registered as workers in Bituach Leumi, Israel’s national social security agency, or were registered in other places that indicated that they were not yeshiva students. The IDF did not clarify which people it intended to draft first, and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) announced shortly after the IDF statement that he would hold an “urgent” committee meeting on Wednesday morning to receive “clarifications and explanations.”
“At this time, there is no indication of an orderly mechanism or clear criteria regarding who is expected to receive the draft orders. Such a move could create chaos amongst the haredim,” Edelstein said.
“In addition, the legal status of the draft orders is unclear, as there is no legal backing to the selection that the IDF is expected to conduct in issuing them. At this moment it is entirely unclear if there is a completely random choice of draftees, or if there are any criteria that stand behind those who were chosen for the draft,” Edelstein said.
Earlier on Tuesday, a government official on Tuesday denied reports of a “breakthrough” in the back room talks with haredi representatives over the issue of haredi IDF service, as the FADC continued official debates on a new bill to regulate the issue.
According to the report by KAN News, government secretary Yossi Fuchs mentioned the breakthrough during Thursday’s National Security Cabinet meeting. Edelstein said in response to the report, “There is only one place where the (haredi) draft law is being formulated, and that is in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.”
Edelstein’s response reflected tensions between officials in the prime minister’s office, who are pushing for concessions to haredim in order not to destabilize the government, and members of the Knesset, including from the coalition, who are pushing for a broader haredi draft in order to meet the IDF’s manpower needs while minimizing an increase of the burden on those who are already serving.
This tension has been reflected in another bill that came up during the committee discussion, to lengthen mandatory service for combat and combat-supporting soldiers from 32 to 36 months, and for the rest of the army from 28 to 32 months, for a period of five years. The attorney general’s office has said that this bill needed to be accompanied by significant work on the haredi draft bill since it would otherwise be an unconstitutional increase in inequality between those who serve and those who do not.
Edelstein in the committee on Tuesday appeared to endorse the attorney general’s position, saying that without “clarity” on the [haredi] draft bill, the committee would not rush to approve the lengthening of mandatory service. Edelstein has shown already that he is willing to stop government laws – his committee in June knocked down a bill that would have increased by a year the cutoff age of reservists.
Edelstein explained, based on classified committee meetings last week, that the IDF currently needed some 10,000 extra mandatory service soldiers in order to meet its needs. The IDF plans to do so by combining the extension of mandatory service, and recruitment of some 3,000 haredim, in addition to the annual haredi draft of 1,800. The IDF has said that in 2025 it will also draft approximately 4,800 haredim, and National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz announced on Monday that his party would only support an extension of mandatory service that would apply for just two years, after which the share of haredi enlistment would need rise.
Financial impacts
The debates in the FADC on Monday and Tuesday focused on the financial aspects of the haredi draft, and on the option of national civil service that is expected to accompany the military option.
Representatives of the finance ministry said during the debate on Tuesday that an annual increase of 1,000 haredi draftees to the previous year, would enable the state to lower the mandatory length of service back to 32 months from 2030 onwards. It would also save each reservist between 10-14 days of reserve duty every year, and save the economy approximately NIS 1.3 billion annually.
The finance ministry officials at Tuesday’s debate also strongly opposed the policy of drafting haredi workers, and argued that rather than draft haredim who were already in the process of integration into the Israeli workplace, thus removing their ability to continue working, the state should draft those who were not registered in the workplace.
Fuchs clarified later in the meeting that the intention to draft workers was a temporary measure and relevant only to answer immediate needs, and was not the government’s policy.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel and a group called the Israel Defensive Shield Forum petitioned the High Court of Justice on Tuesday to order the state to immediately draft the over 60,000 haredi men of military age. The petition cited the court’s June 25 ruling, which said that there was no longer a legal basis to exempt haredim as a group, and argued that the state’s intention to send draft orders to just 3,000 additional haredim was not in accordance with the ruling.
In addition, the petitioners claimed that “the respondents held secret talks with rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox world in order to formulate a plan to continue the illegal arrangement of ‘Torah as a vocation.’ According to the proposed plan, only ultra-Orthodox who meet certain criteria will be drafted, such as those who already work, are married with children, or have a smartphone.”
This could lead to “devastating results,” such as “smuggling” haredim back into yeshivot, incentivizing illegal work, and more, the petitioners argued. The petition did not include proof of the existence of these “secret talks.”
In a statement, the petitioners called the government’s conduct a “parade of injustices.”
“The proposed outline not only does not solve the problem of unequal recruitment but actually exacerbates it. Instead of obeying the law and the ruling of the Supreme Court, the state is trying to circumvent them in improper ways,” the statement read.