PM cancels his own video address, claiming scheduling conflict, but Lapid and other rivals accuse him of hiding from public scrutiny over ‘betrayal’ of reservists
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett accused the government of “advancing a law that will eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim” in a prerecorded video statement on Tuesday evening. It was broadcast minutes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a similar primetime address during which he was scheduled to have discussed his efforts to advance the controversial bill regulating ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions.
Netanyahu’s office said that the prime minister had delayed what was also expected to be a recorded statement due to unspecified “scheduling constraints.” Bennett and Opposition leader Yair Lapid had planned to issue their statements in response to Netanyahu’s.
Bennett, a former prime minister who is polling as Netanyahu’s prime rival ahead of next year’s general elections, lambasted the proposed law and accused Netanyahu of deceiving the public and abandoning those who shoulder the burden of military service. Yesh Atid leader Lapid, in his brief video statement, accused Netanyahu of running away from indefensible legislation, and betraying Israel’s soldiers.
According to Bennett, Israelis fought like “lions” after October 7 with no regard to political or religious affiliation, and now that the war in Gaza is over, the IDF is facing a manpower shortage of 20,000 soldiers.
“There are only two options: to draft our Haredi brothers so that they shoulder their share, or to impose on our reservists another 120 reserve days every year on a permanent basis, destroying their professional and family future,” Bennett said — claiming that there are currently “100,000 young Haredi men obligated to enlist who can be trained within five months to the level required for the mission.”
“It is possible, and the IDF is capable of it, but it needs government backing. Yet the government, instead of acting to draft the Haredim, is doing exactly the opposite! These days, it is advancing a law that will eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim,” Bennett charged.
For the past year, the Haredi leadership has been pushing for the passage of a law that would largely keep its constituency out of the IDF, after the High Court ruled that decades-long blanket exemptions from army duty informally afforded to full-time Haredi yeshiva students were illegal.
Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits due to the strain on standing and reserve forces caused by the war against Hamas in Gaza and other military challenges.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) released his revised copy of the government’s conscription bill last Thursday, sparking widespread condemnation, including from within Netanyahu’s own Likud party.
The legislation, as currently laid out, would continue to grant military service exemptions to full-time yeshiva students while ostensibly increasing conscription among graduates of Haredi educational institutions.
However, the bill would also remove various provisions from an earlier draft by Likud MK Yuli Edelstein — who was recently deposed as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee — that were intended to ensure that those registered for yeshiva study are actually studying, and cancel all sanctions on draft evaders when they turn 26.
According to Bennett, the bill currently being promoted by the coalition is “not a draft law” but rather a bluff, “full of formulations and tricks meant to mislead you, the public, into thinking the goal is to draft Haredim, but in practice every component of the law ensures they will not enlist.”
“For example, the law grants an immediate pardon to all draft evaders: a reward for evasion. It also states that a young Haredi who delays until age 26 will receive a lifetime exemption. Obviously, everyone will do that,” he stated.
“The law is full of such deceptions. That is why the IDF opposes it. That is why former defense minister Yoav Gallant opposed it and was fired. That is why the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, opposed it and was removed. Every professional body that examined the law determined it is a bluff.”
The only reason why Netanyahu is promoting the controversial legislation is that “the Haredi parties are threatening to topple the coalition,” Bennett argued, calling it “politics in its purest form.”
Pushing back on the Haredi claim that Torah study cannot be combined with military service, Bennett cited the Biblical passage in which Moses rebukes the tribes of Gad and Reuben by asking, “Shall your brothers go out to war while you sit here?”
“All the heroes of the Torah were warriors — Joshua bin Nun, Gideon, King David — all were great fighters! Myriads of soldiers from the religious Zionist community proved themselves in this war in all their glory, with a Gemara in hand in the heart of Khan Yunis! This is the true Judaism,” he continued, calling on “every citizen of Israel to stand together with the soldiers of the IDF against this anti-Zionist law.”
‘Bibi ran away’
In his address, Lapid accused Netanyahu of cancelling his appearance and hiding from the public because he knows there is no justification for his policy.
“Netanyahu canceled his statement this evening because he knows the truth. Bibi ran away because he knows that we know the details of the draft evasion law, and he has no way to defend it,” Lapid declared, arguing that “not even five percent” of Haredim will enlist under the bill.
According to Lapid, the controversial legislation “is full of loopholes that were intentionally inserted into it” and lacks enlistment quotas, sanctions and enforcement mechanisms and instead constitutes “yet another betrayal of our soldiers.”
“Control is not in the hands of the IDF, but in the hands of Deri and Goldknopf,” he asserted, naming the leaders of the Knesset’s two ultra-Orthodox parties, Aryeh Deri and Yitzhak Goldknopf. “When choosing between the soldiers and the draft dodgers, Netanyahu chose the draft dodgers and betrayed the soldiers.”
The “sole purpose” of the “full-on draft-dodging law” is to “renew the flow of money to the yeshivas,” allocating billions of shekels annually to evaders and “disgracing our soldiers,” Lapid continued.
“Netanyahu’s escape tonight is a clear message to all coalition members: you cannot defend this law, and this law will not pass. I promise we will stop it.”
A betrayal’
Netanyahu also came under fire from former IDF chief of staff and “Yashar! With Eisenkot” chairman Gadi Eisenkot, who argued that cancelling his television appearance would “not change the essence of the draft evasion law,” which constitutes “a betrayal” of the troops.
“This law harms the IDF’s readiness. Failing to meet the army’s need for 12,000 combat soldiers in the midst of a war is not a mistake — it’s negligence,” he tweeted, accusing the prime minister of “consciously choosing his personal and coalition survival over national security and over the lives of the soldiers.”
“Netanyahu, if you truly believe this is a good law, let’s bring it to snap elections. You and the October 7 government of failure don’t have a shred of moral authority or legitimacy to legislate this disgrace,” Eisenkot declared.
As reported by The Times of Israel