Senior legal experts have harshly criticized the draft military service principles proposed by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chair MK Boaz Bismuth, warning the plan would cement existing Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft exemptions and restore full stipends to yeshivas — without increasing enlistment.
Legal officials say the proposal offers no meaningful sanctions for draft evasion, calling it “toothless” and designed primarily to buy time for the coalition. “This is a law on paper,” one senior source said. “Its real purpose is to delay, not to draft.”
The draft would suspend individual penalties for Haredi draft dodgers for several years. Under current law, all individuals of draft age are obligated to enlist, and those who fail to do so face arrest or travel bans. In contrast, Bismuth’s plan delays sanctions for yeshiva students who do not enlist, with penalties applying only after several years — and only if community-wide quotas are not met.
Security officials have warned the proposal is out of touch with military needs. The IDF has said it will need to expand in the coming years, lengthen service terms and place greater demands on reserve forces. Yet the proposed framework offers no incentives for enlistment and weakens enforcement.
According to Bismuth’s draft, Haredi enlistment quotas would begin with 4,800 recruits in the first year, rising gradually to 7,920 in the fourth year. By the fifth year, at least 50% of each Haredi cohort would be expected to enlist. In practice, this means thousands of annual exemptions would remain in place in exchange for limited enlistment numbers.
The plan would also grant blanket amnesty to those who failed to enlist before the law takes effect, including Haredi men who received draft orders during the war. A yeshiva student could avoid sanctions simply by providing confirmation from his yeshiva head and signing an affidavit affirming that he studied. For legal equality, the same reset period would apply to non-Haredi draft evaders.
A previously proposed biometric attendance system for yeshiva students, aimed at curbing fraud, has also been removed from the plan.
Personal sanctions would only be triggered if the first-year quota of 4,800 is not met, and even then, they would not apply to those with official deferments. Critics argue the plan legitimizes mass non-enlistment and violates the principle of equal service, making it highly unlikely to survive a High Court review.