The Likud's response on Tuesday to the High Court ruling saying that the state could no longer refrain from drafting haredim into the IDF included several misleading claims, bringing into question whether or not the government intends to lead to a significant increase in haredi draftees.
The Likud, the largest party in the governing coalition, responded, "The true solution to the issue of the draft is not the High Court ruling, which will be relevant for a short period only, but completing a historic draft bill that is currently being prepared in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for its second and third reading."
Likud: Odd that High Court intervening in haredi draft now
"It is odd that the High Court, which for 76 years avoided forcing yeshiva students to serve in the IDF, does it specifically now, on the eve of the completion of a historic draft bill, and when the recent haredi draft was the highest ever," the Likud said.
"The bill was formulated in the defense establishment while [MK] Benny Gantz was defense minister, and passed its first reading with the support of Bennett, Lapid, and Liberman. Now, suddenly, Bennett, Lapid, Liberman, and Gantz oppose the bill because they are not interested in drafting haredim but in bringing down the government," the Likud said.
"Contrary to their claims, the bill took into account war scenarios and prepared for them, and in any case, changes are being made to it that are necessary due to the current situation," the Likud said
The bill significantly increases the draft rates of the haredi public, sets institutional sanctions for not meeting quotas, and recognizes the importance of Torah study," the Likud concluded.
Will the government pass a draft bill before July 28 deadline?
A bill is indeed being prepared in the FADC, but it is scheduled to take weeks, if not months, to become law. The government promised in the High Court hearing on June 2 that the bill would be completed by the end of the Knesset summer session on July 28, but it is currently proceeding at a slow pace and there are no guarantees that it will indeed pass by then.
In addition, members of the opposition, the attorney general's office, the defense ministry, and even a number of ministers and Knesset members from the coalition have pointed out that the version of the bill currently on the table in the FADC is irrelevant to the IDF's needs post October 7. For example, the bill stipulates that the percentage of haredim in each graduating class that will complete military service will rise gradually from its current situation, under 10%, to 35% by 2035.
However, IDF estimates have reportedly said that the number must reach 50% within five years in order to meet the IDF's needs.
In addition, the bill only applies "institutional sanctions" and not personal sanctions, meaning that yeshivot will be sanctioned if their students do not meet IDF quotas, but actual draft dodgers will not. Institutional sanctions are widely believed to be ineffective in causing individual haredim to enlist at recruitment centers.
National Unity addressed the Likud statement later on Tuesday afternoon.
"A lie that is repeated many times does not become truth. If this bill was so historic and correct, why is it that Netanyahu and the haredi parties voted against it [in 2022]?" the party said.
National Unity added, "Gantz explicitly brought the draft bill merely as an intermediary on the way to bringing the Israeli Service model," a model that includes military or national service for all 18-year-old Israelis, including from the haredi and Arab sectors.
"At this time, when the tracks are ready and the army's needs are different, this bill is a historic stain. All leadership, from the right and left, and whoever the state of Israel, whoever cares about a people's army and about Israeli society, must reach agreements based on the Israeli Service model, which will bring a real solution, and not a temporary solution for the survival of the coalition," National Unity concluded.