Bennett Slams Netanyahu for Backing Off From Statement on Haredi Draft Bill
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly halted a planned public statement on the coalition’s Haredi conscription proposal on Tuesday, pulling the announcement only minutes before it was due. His office attributed the cancellation to “scheduling constraints,” a move that immediately drew reactions from lawmakers who had spent the day in marathon committee discussions on the disputed draft outline.
The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee met for hours to review the government’s latest proposal, with both coalition and opposition members signaling that the plan in its current form faces serious challenges. Critics argued that the legislation offers little practical change to longstanding gaps in service requirements.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu’s retreat reflected the weaknesses of the bill, claiming the prime minister opted out because “he knows we know the details of the ‘draft-evasion law,’ and he has no way to defend it.” He added, “This is not a historic law. Fifty percent of the Haredim will not enlist—not even 5%.”
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett released a video shortly after the canceled speech, warning that the government was promoting a policy that would “eliminate any chance of drafting Haredim.” Bennett said Israel emerged from the war with a 20,000-soldier shortfall and argued that the country now faces a stark choice: expand service obligations to the Haredi community or dramatically increase annual reserve duty for those already serving.
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“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,” he said. Bennett added that roughly 100,000 eligible Haredi men could meet the army’s needs with several months of training if the government offered full backing.
He accused the coalition of advancing “a bluff” packed with mechanisms that allow exemptions rather than expand enlistment. “For example, the law grants an immediate pardon to all draft evaders,” he said, arguing the proposal rewards avoidance and gives long-term exemptions to those who delay service until age 26.
Bennett cited the biblical passage in which Moses confronts the tribes of Gad and Reuben by asking, “Shall your brothers go out to war while you sit here?”
He added: “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.”
Bennett called on every Israeli citizen to stand up against this “anti-Zionist” law.
