Knesset defense committee delays vote to extend IDF reservist cutoff age

In a surprising development in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday morning, committee chair MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) opted not to hold a vote on a bill that would extend the cutoff age for reservists by three months.

The bill, which is currently set to expire on June 30, says that regular soldiers must serve until age 41 instead of 40, and officers must serve until age 46 instead of 45. The goal, according to Israel's defense ministry, is to avoid a scenario in which approximately 6,700 soldiers are released on June 30 in the middle of war after having reached the cut off age in the past six months. Once the bill passes into the law, the provision's expiration date will be September 30.

Edelstein's committee is also responsible for a highly-charged bill to regulate haredi service in the IDF after the illegality of the haredi exemption was reaffirmed by Israel's High Court of Justice in a ruling on Tuesday. Edelstein said on Tuesday regarding the haredi draft bill that there either would be a bill "with wide agreement" or there would be "no bill at all."

The bill to extend the reservist cutoff age, which is being expedited through the Knesset, faced legal challenges at an earlier stage, as it increased the burden on reservists while the haredi manpower pool remains untapped. Still, Israel's attorney general approved the bill's progression because of the IDF's urgent operational needs, and it passed its first reading in the Knesset plenum on Monday. Edelstein was thus not expected to oppose the reservist cutoff age bill but decided in the end not to hold a vote.

This means that the bill is unlikely to pass into law by June 30 (Sunday), and, come Monday, reservists who reached the cutoff age will no longer be required to remain in service.

'Either we all reject or we all agree'

Edelstein said during the committee debate on Wednesday, "Either we all reject the IDF's request, or we all agree on something. I have no personal, party, or coalition interest to pass it. Either we agree on something, or we do not, but we are all together."

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who has expressed his support for the end of the haredi exemption from service, criticized the opposition for opposing the measure to extend the cutoff age. Chikli argued in a post on X that even if thousands of haredim were to immediately join the IDF, it would still take months to train them. Opposing the immediate measure to extend the cutoff age was thus "completely populist" and "harmed the war efforts," Chikli said.