Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday he had decided to advance a version of a haredi conscription law that passed its first reading during the Lapid-Bennett government’s tenure in January 2022.
The announcement came after weeks of negotiations between haredi representatives and the prime minister’s office, and just a day before a final deadline for the state to update the High Court of Justice over its plans to conscript military-age haredi men. The legal basis for the sweeping exemption from military service expired at the end of June 2023, and the interim period that the government gave itself to come up with a new plan expired on March 31, 2024.
“In order to bridge the differences and bring about a broad agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to advance the draft law that passed the first reading in the previous Knesset,” a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office read.
“The law was prepared by the defense establishment after thorough staff work and submitted by the then-defense minister, Benny Gantz,” the statement continued.
The statement added, “The Prime Minister calls on all factions that supported the proposal in the previous Knesset to join the proposal.”
Gantz doesn’t approve
Gantz soon rejected the move and called it a “political maneuver.” The bill that passed its first reading in 2022 was intended as the foundation for a broad “Israeli Service Plan” in which all sectors of Israeli society would need to conduct national service of some form. The bill itself that passed in 2022 was “not enough then,” and is “irrelevant to the reality after October 7,” Gantz said in a post on X.
Gantz soon after addressed the Prime Minister in a video: “The law you wish to bring in is not what was outlined by the previous government that I led, it is not the law that I asked to be promoted in the current Knesset, and it certainly is not a law that reflects the security needs of the State of Israel after Oct 7.”
“After October 7, the IDF needs soldiers, the country needs servants to the State of Israel and not those who wish to further their political gains”, he continued. “If you continue on this path, you may solve a political problem, but the State of Israel will continue to have a conscription problem and an issue with national fairness in the IDF,” Gantz said.
Benny Gantz addresses Prime Minister Netanyahu (Benny Gantz)
Minutes after Netanyahu’s announcement on the law, Justice Minister Yariv Levin summoned a Ministerial Committee on Legislation meeting for Thursday morning, with the 2022 haredi draft bill the only item on the agenda. The committee usually meets on Sundays and has not met in weeks. When it does meet, it usually has approximately 30 legislative items on its agenda. The committee meeting was set for Thursday so that the state could include it in a response to the High Court on time, as the court gave the state until May 16 to present steps it has taken to draft haredi men into the IDF. The court on June 2 will hear arguments on whether to make a temporary order, to draft haredi men and cease funding to yeshivot for students without legal exemptions, into a permanent one.
Nearly all of the leaders of the opposition parties called out Netanyahu on what they agreed was a “political maneuver.” They argued that the move was solely an attempt to handcuff Gantz by bringing a law that Gantz himself proposed as defense minister just two years ago, since that law did not meet the requirements of the reality post October 7.
In addition, a source from at least one haredi party, Shas, said that the party had not been updated about the prime minister’s decision in advance.
כולם חייבים להבין שהנסיבות השתנו מקצה לקצה.
מדינת ישראל נמצאת תחת אש מצפון, מדרום, ממזרח ומאיראן.
כל המצב הזה מחייב חוק גיוס חובה לכולם. כל צעיר וצעירה בני 18 – יהודי, מוסלמי, נוצרי, דרוזי או צ׳רקסי חייבים להתייצב לשירות צבאי או אזרחי.
— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) May 15, 2024
Even members of the Likud expressed their reservations. MK Dan Illouz wrote on X that he would only support a law would realistically address IDF’s manpower needs, and he called on all sides to “lower the levels of populism.”
Later on Wednesday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reiterated in a press conference a previous stance that he would only support a law that enjoyed the support of the entire emergency coalition, including Gantz’s National Unity party. Gallant said that Gantz and the haredi parties had been close to reaching an agreement, but claimed that both sides had backed down out of “political motives.”
The law that passed its first reading in 2022’s main points were that a 21-year-old haredi could join the national emergency and rescue system and receive vocational training.
נתניהו ממשיך להתנהג כאילו השבעה באוקטובר לא קרה. התרגילים שלו צריכים להפסק, החרדים צריכים להתגייס. pic.twitter.com/DHxzF9wnBL
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) May 15, 2024
This would allow the haredi community to integrate into the employment market and acquire a profession, as well as increase the number of haredi recruits.
According to the proposal, the exemption age would rise to 22 after two years and then to 23 one year later. The bill established recruitment targets, according to which financial sanctions can be imposed on the yeshiva – but not on the young people who do not enlist – if they do not meet them.
The yeshiva sanctions would be gradual: First, a 20% budget reduction, followed by a more significant cut only after several consecutive years of not meeting the goals. According to the proposal, the yeshiva’s recruitment target would be 15% until 2026, after which it would increase to 20% and from 2030 to 25%. Starting in 2036, the recruitment target would rise to 35%.
The proposal specifies two recruitment routes for the haredi community to join the IDF: a three-week shortened service or a three-month service, after which the soldiers transfer to reserve service.
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