Overview
- Committee chair Boaz Bismuth opened tightly timed hearings on the updated conscription bill, with coalition leaders aiming for final Knesset approval within about six weeks.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared the current version “cannot be supported,” while Likud’s Dan Illouz and Religious Zionism’s Michal Woldiger pressed for sweeping amendments.
- Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs said the plan sets annual targets topping 8,000 Haredi enlistees and would trigger immediate personal sanctions such as travel, license, study, work and tax-credit bans for those who do not enlist.
- A Finance Ministry analysis submitted to the committee warned the proposal could reduce Haredi enlistment by dropping effective financial penalties and inflating figures through civilian national service.
- Bereaved families and IDF manpower chief Brig. Gen. Shay Taib argued the draft fails operational needs, as the Haredi Hesder network cautioned it would dismantle their integration model and leaked rabbinic audio exposed deeper intra-Haredi rifts.