Defense Ministry, IDF working on 'plan of action' for haredi IDF enlistment, Gallant says

Israel's defense ministry and the IDF are in the process of formulating a "plan of action" to enable a growing number of haredi men to enlist in the IDF under "conditions that are suitable for the haredi lifestyle," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) at IDF headquarters (the Kirya) in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

Gallant's comments came in the wake of the government's failure in recent weeks to develop a new plan to regulate haredi IDF service and a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that haredi men whose legal deferrals have expired are legally required to enlist for IDF service.

In response to stormy protests this week both for and against haredi IDF service, Gallant said that it was "prohibited under any circumstance to create a schism amongst the people" since "social stability is a central part of national resilience and is a condition for national security."

The defense minister pointed out that at the beginning of the war, he had appointed former Israel Air Force commander Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Shkedi will lead programs intended to expand haredi enlistment. He said that due to the new legal status, he requested IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy to present the committee's work "as soon as possible."

"Alongside the IDF and defense ministry, I will continue, along with everyone here and everyone represented in the government, to strive for legislation with a broad consensus of a sweeping draft bill," Gallant said.

FADC chairman MK Yuli Edelstein said last week that he would insist that any new bill on haredi enlistment pass through his committee said that the committee would invest the "utmost effort" to bring to a "more just sharing of the burden."

IDF summons haredi men to pre-draft examinations

Walla News on Tuesday reported that the IDF had begun to send out a summons for haredi men to conduct medical and cognitive examinations (known as Tzav Rishon), which are the first step in the enlistment process.

A spokesperson for the IDF denied the report, saying that any summons sent out were part of routine procedure and did not relate to the changed legal situation.

Haredi members of the Knesset have largely remained quiet since expressing their opposition to the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday. Several haredi news outlets reported that one of the leading figures in the Hassidic Agudat Yisrael party, the Visnitz Rebbe, met with one of the leaders of the Lithuanian camp to coordinate their conduct on the issue.