Haredi IDF exemption bill will cause 'fault line' in Israeli society, Eisenkot says

A government bill that will lead to the exemption of military-age haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men from IDF service will produce a “fault line” in Israeli society and therefore needs to be prevented by “broad public activity” and “extreme parliamentary measures,” National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot said during an interview on Army Radio on Tuesday morning.

Such a bill “undermines” Israel’s national security by harming necessary solidarity and national consensus, Eisenkot added. It also undermines Israel’s stated war goals since they include “strengthening social resilience,” and unequal service does the opposite, Eisenkot said.

He explained that “extreme parliamentary measures” included formulating a competing bill with coalition rebels against the government’s wishes and also demanding in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the IDF step up its pace of drafting eligible haredi men.

The comments by Eisenkot, who served as IDF Chief of Staff between 2015 and 2019, came as government officials are holding talks behind the scenes to agree with the leaders of the haredi parties and security officials on the formulation of a haredi draft bill.

Despite a High Court of Justice ruling in June that officially ended the haredi exemption, the IDF said that it could only draft approximately 5,000 haredim in the year beginning in mid-2024, out of over 60,000 eligible men. The bill being negotiated behind the scenes, according to a source, will likely include draft quota targets that will begin with 5,000 and rise gradually every year. The exact numbers and type of sanctions that will be applied if the quotas are not met are the main areas of negotiation, the source added.

A similar bill was ruled unconstitutional in 2017 since the quotas and sanctions did not lead to sufficiently equal sharing of the burden of service. Members of the opposition have advocated for a paradigm shift, whereby the bill will include a quota for a certain number of exemptions for outstanding yeshiva students, and all the rest must complete IDF or civil service of some form.

Despite security officials deeming the draft’s wording acceptable, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant continues to insist that the bill garner the support of at least one opposition party. Yuli Edelstein (Likud), the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has stated that he will push a bill that security officials find acceptable. Minister-without-portfolio Gideon Sa’ar (United Right), whose party joined the government in September, expressed a similar position.

Goldknopf's warning

United Torah Judaism chairman and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month that his party would not support the government’s 2025 budget if a haredi draft bill is not passed first. The bill is necessary to unfreeze state funds to support yeshiva students that are contingent on their exemption from service becoming legal.

A source from the party explained that it would only support initial 2025 budget procedures, including approving the budget in the government, if progress was made on the haredi draft bill. The party will likewise continue to assess the progress on the haredi draft bill in parallel to the progress of the budget bill through the legislative process.

If at any stage the party believes the draft bill is not progressing sufficiently, it will not support the next budget stage. In any case, the party demands that the draft bill pass its final vote and become law before the budget is approved.