A meeting discussing sections in the updated haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription bill to advance it further at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee heated up on Wednesday.
The session was the second to be conducted since MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud) was appointed chairperson of the foreign affairs panel and addressed changes to the bill that were made.
Bismuth replaced MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) as the committee’s chair following the controversy surrounding the negotiations regarding Edelstein’s haredi law proposal, which led to the departure of two haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, from the government in July.
Bismuth opened the meeting by saying that the focus of the discussion would be on sections of the outline “where there is no dispute.”
There was first a focus on parts of the 26th section of the law, which were said to cover issues concerning definitions, deferments of service for yeshiva students, the conditions for said deferments, the issuance of deferment orders, exemption from regular service terms for those who reach the exemption age, and temporary provisions.
Various MKs in attendance voiced their criticism of the new outline. At the same time, reservist representatives and soldiers expressed their sense of urgency regarding reaching a law that would enforce haredi conscription to the IDF, as the military continues to suffer from a shortage in human resources.
In turn, many opposition MKs said that the previous outline that Edelstein had drafted for the bill was far more suited to the present realities of the war. They also criticized starting new work on the legislation after over 40 meetings on the conscription law had taken place when Edelstein chaired the committee.
MK Efrat Rayten (the Democrats) said that she had examined the sections Bismuth proposed and compared them to Edelstein’s outline.
She said that she came to the conclusion that Bismuth’s sections of the draft were entirely different from Edelstein’s outline on the conscription bill, which was “worked on for a year and a half” and meant to “reflect all the discussions we had here.”
“The difference between the outlines is like the difference between heaven and Earth,” she told the committee.
“We have reverted to the old outline, which is hollow and does not take into account everything that came up in the discussions,” she added, referring to the past work that was done on the conscription bill in 2022.
Goal of the conscription law
While Edelstein was working on the new outline, he had said repeatedly that his committee had “cleaned the slate” on the previous bill, which was widely believed to be irrelevant following Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
He was present in the meeting, despite being absent from the first one led by Bismuth, which took place in mid-August.
Edelstein questioned the objectives of the new process for the conscription bill. “If the goal is to reach a conscription law, we have already had many discussions, and we reached an outline that was a profound compromise.”
“If the intention now is to reach something less following another series of discussions, then there will certainly not be a law that actually enlists the haredim,” Edelstein added.
He also said that “if the goal is a real conscription law, then it is pointless to start the same process all over again only to arrive back at the same point.”
MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) was escorted out of the meeting after expressing strong criticism of Bismuth’s outline.
Stern said that Bismuth removed him from the discussion on the conscription law because “he requested data and figures from military officials,” which was part of his duties.
“The only MKs who were pleased by and supported [Bismuth] were the draft dodgers Yakov Asher (Degel Hatorah) and Yinon Azoulay (Shas),” Stern continued.
Bismuth was also asked about a Monday Walla report that claimed he was promoting an “emergency regulation” outline as a temporary solution to the IDF draft issue.
He did not confirm the report, replying instead that advancing the law at hand was of the utmost importance.
According to the Walla report, enforcement sanctions against haredi draft dodgers would be suspended throughout the period of the “emergency regulation,” which would last for one year. If the sanctions are lifted, draft evaders will not be arrested, and government funding for yeshivas will continue.
“There is an understanding that in the current reality, in the midst of a war, the need for soldiers is urgent and essential, while a permanent law is a long and complex process. Therefore, temporary solutions adapted to the current period are also being considered,” Bismuth’s office told The Jerusalem Post in response to the Monday report.