The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chaired by Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, continued on Monday its debates over a highly charged bill to increase ultra-Orthodox service in the IDF.
This was the second committee on the issue, and a third will be held on Tuesday.
The debate on Monday focused on whether or not the governing coalition would push the bill into law if it risked losing the haredi parties in the coalition.
Edelstein stated that he was intent on passing an appropriate bill that would answer the IDF’s needs.“In these discussions, all the people of Israel will see which people come with an active desire to bring about a correct and effective amendment that will meet the needs of the army, and which people come with old demagogy to play a political and populist game,” Edelstein said. “The goal is to promote effective, correct, and fast legislation. It is possible,” he added.
However, Knesset members from the opposition were not convinced. MKs Orit Farkash-Hacohen (National Unity), Simon Davidson (Yesh Atid), Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beytenu), and others expressed their skepticism at the government’s willingness to create real change and not making cosmetic changes, and accused the government of using the legislative process as a means to show that it was progressing on the issue, without actually drafting more haredim.
Haredim have long been exempt from IDF service, but the legal exemption ended at the end of June 2023 after being deemed unequal and thus unconstitutional. The government since then has refrained from taking the necessary steps to draft the approximately 60,000 haredi men of military age, many of whom study in yeshivot. The IDF has said that it is in urgent need of more manpower.
Failing to compromise with haredi party
After failing to come up with a compromise with the haredi parties, the government earlier this month decided to take up a bill that passed its first reading in 2022, before the October 7 massacre and ensuing war.The bill is broadly considered irrelevant, but Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs said in the committee discussion on Monday that it was the “best existing framework” upon which to come up with a new arrangement, that will significantly increase the numbers of haredim in the IDF while enabling those who study Torah full time to continue doing so.Also on Monday, the Knesset Home Committee approved a measure to fast-track a bill that will extend by three months a provision to raise the cutoff age for reservists to prevent a manpower crisis.The temporary provision, which is currently set to expire on June 30, says that regular soldiers must serve until age 41 instead of 40, and officers must serve until age 46 instead of 45. The goal, according to the Defense Ministry, is to avoid a scenario in which approximately 6,700 soldiers are released on June 30 in the middle of war after having reached the cut-off age in the past six months.Once the bill passes into law, the provision’s expiration date will be September 30.The bill reached the Knesset plenum for its first reading later on Monday and was expected to pass. The vote was held after press time.