Netanyahu: Arrests of Haredi Draft Evaders Unacceptable and Harmful to IDF Recruitment

This is unacceptable. We need to preserve the world of Torah study because it has preserved us, the prime minister told Kol Barama during a Tuesday morning radio interview.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed opposition to detaining yeshiva students who avoid military service during a Kol Barama interview on Tuesday morning. He also raised doubts about whether legislation on haredi conscription could pass before a new government takes office.

Netanyahu maintained that such detentions weaken attempts to promote voluntary haredi enlistment.

This is unacceptable. We need to preserve the world of Torah study because it has preserved us, Netanyahu said.

These arrests amount to a calculated effort to derail voluntary haredi recruitment. I hold deep respect for Torah study, but anyone not studying must enlist, he added.

Netanyahu Questions Enacting Conscription Law Before New Government Forms

Netanyahu addressed demands from haredi parties to pass conscription legislation prior to swearing in the next government.

I wish we could achieve that. Can it happen before the government forms? Who knows? It hinges on goodwill, understanding and cooperation, Netanyahu said.

I know that many in the haredi community recognize the need for a fresh sharing of the burden, he added.

The haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, urged Netanyahu coalition members to advance a bill that critics say would fail to boost haredi enlistment during the current term.

The haredi parties also refused to join coalition votes throughout the term, declaring they would withhold cooperation until the disputed legislation advanced.

Critics contended that the haredi draft bill from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee would not increase enlistment and served mainly to satisfy haredi partners.

The bill was set aside, though other measures passed, including a temporary halt to arrests of haredi draft evaders and a law recognizing Torah study as a core national value in the Basic Law. The IDF has repeatedly highlighted a severe manpower shortage after three years of conflict.

Zamir Warned of Potential IDF Collapse Due to Manpower Shortfall

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that the IDF could soon collapse without a solution to the manpower gap.

Opposition figures seeking to unseat Netanyahu in the October 27 election sharply criticized his Tuesday comments, accusing him of a political bargain with haredi parties. They vowed to enforce haredi conscription under the incoming government.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, polling as the largest opposition party, said one week before the election, Netanyahu promised the haredim a draft evasion law as a condition for forming the government.

The upcoming election is a choice between a Netanyahu government of draft evasion and a Zionist conscription government under my leadership, he added.

B'Yachad party leader Naftali Bennett said Netanyahu promised this morning, in his own words, to pass the draft exemption law before the next government is even formed.

Netanyahu is dismantling the IDF and endangering those who serve along with reservists, he added.

Bennett pledged that the next government would reduce state funding to haredim, taking NIS 30 billion from draft evaders and redirecting it to soldiers and those who serve, thereby saving the State of Israel.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said Netanyahu is issuing an impassioned call against the arrest of draft evaders, once again proving that he is a hostage to the draft evaders without them, he has no government.

In the next government, we will enlist everyone, with no exemptions and no backroom deals, he added.