Since the establishment of the state, compulsory IDF service has been a central principle of Israeli society. Over the years, Zionist parties on both the right and left have voiced support for integrating yeshiva students into military service. In practice, however, the arrangement that began in 1948 as a compromise allowing about 400 yeshiva students to defer enlistment gradually expanded. Through legislation and coalition agreements, a framework was preserved for decades that allowed the overwhelming majority of ultra-Orthodox men to dodge military service.
Time and again, governments and Knessets tried to change that reality through enlistment targets, quotas and various arrangements, but the de facto exemption remained broad.
The dramatic change came during the current Knesset term. In June 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that, in the absence of a legal framework for an exemption, the state had no authority to refrain from broadly drafting yeshiva students. It also ruled that state funding could no longer be transferred to yeshivas for students who had not received a lawful exemption or whose service had not been legally deferred.
The ruling effectively changed the legal situation, requiring the state to move away from a policy of broad deferments and exemptions to one in which the draft obligation also applies to yeshiva students, alongside enforcement mechanisms and sanctions.
Ahead of the election for the 26th Knesset, Zionist parties are once again promising that this time they will actually enlist ultra-Orthodox men. They say doing so will not undermine women’s integration in the IDF, while also arguing that Arab citizens should now be required to perform civilian service.
Likud
Likud chose not to respond to inquiries from ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth regarding the draft law and draft dodging among yeshiva students.
Yashar!
The party plans to advance a “National Service for All” law after the election, under which “anyone who does not serve in the IDF will be required to perform mandatory civilian service.”
On ultra-Orthodox enlistment, Yashar! said: “The only mechanism for deferring service will be an allocation of up to 3% of each annual cohort for outstanding individuals in various fields, including Torah scholars, through an open and equal selection process, with those individuals also undergoing induction and basic training.”
On sanctions against draft evaders, the party said: “A draft evader or deserter will be subject to broad revocation of civil and economic benefits and to criminal proceedings. Sanctions will include disqualification from state tenders, scholarships from the Council for Higher Education and Labor Ministry, municipal tax discounts, housing benefits and tax benefits.”
Beyachad
“Every citizen of the State of Israel will enlist in the IDF or perform national civilian service under the Defense Service Law, without exemptions — that applies to Arabs and to the ultra-Orthodox alike,” the Beyachad party said, adding: “There are no quotas and no targets. Anyone who does not enlist will not receive a shekel from the state.”
On sanctions, the party said: “We will change the incentive mechanisms so that citizens who serve and work receive priority. The formula is simple: anyone who does not enlist will not receive a shekel from the state. Not Zionist — not on my dime.”
Among other measures, stipends for married yeshiva students would be abolished, while daycare benefits, municipal tax discounts and subsidized housing benefits would be redirected toward those who serve.
Yisrael Beytenu
The party says that “every young man and woman at age 18 — Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians — will be required to perform military or civilian service. The IDF will determine who serves in the military track and who performs civilian service according to security needs. Those assigned to civilian service will serve, among other places, in the Prison Service, Fire and Rescue Authority, medical services and community assistance. No exemptions, no quotas and no deals.”
The party proposes a series of sanctions against draft evaders, including: “They will be barred from leaving Israel, will not receive benefits, will lose tax benefits, will not be eligible for municipal tax discounts or state participation in daycare payments and will not be permitted to work in the civil service or local government.”
The Democrats
“The obligation to serve the state should apply to all citizens, within a national and equal framework,” the Democrats said. “The IDF’s needs will receive priority in the screening process, and anyone not required for military service will be directed to meaningful civilian-national service according to the needs of the state. Expanding the pool of those who serve must be done without harming the status of women or their service opportunities in the IDF.”
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Regarding sanctions against draft evaders, the party said: “The state must stop incentivizing non-service. Anyone who does not regularize their status and fulfill their service obligation should no longer be able to enjoy the same preferential benefits currently granted by the state, including benefits related to daycare, after-school programs and municipal taxes.
“At the same time, we will work to ensure that public funding is not transferred to institutions or organizations that systematically encourage draft evasion or seek to thwart the service obligation. The details of the enforcement mechanism will be determined through legislation, but the principle will be clear: the state will reward service, not draft evasion.”
Otzma Yehudit
Party head, Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said: “We have proven that it is possible to integrate ultra-Orthodox men into meaningful service and strengthen Israel’s security without harming their way of life. We opened dedicated tracks in the police and Border Police, with full observance of Shabbat, kashrut, prayers and Torah study, appropriate gender separation and the establishment of the ultra-Orthodox ‘Avnet’ company in the Border Police.
“I sat with rabbis, we removed obstacles and created frameworks that allow a young ultra-Orthodox man to enter service as Haredi and leave it as Haredi.”
Amcha Yisrael
The party said: “Amcha Yisrael supports integrating ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF and will work to advance a Service Members Law that represents justice and fairness. Passage of this law before the government is sworn in is a prerequisite for our participation in any government. We will not be Goldknopf’s flak jacket, but the reservists’.”
The Joint List
The Joint List opposes drafting ultra-Orthodox men or any form of compulsory enlistment and believes that “sanctions should not be imposed on someone who chooses not to enlist. Instead of punishing citizens, we should work to end the occupation and wars and build a reality in which there is no need to draft more and more people into the military.”
Ra’am
Ra’am, naturally, opposes a draft law that would require young Arab citizens to serve in the IDF or perform civilian service. The faction also declined to respond on the issue of ultra-Orthodox enlistment, even though three Ra’am lawmakers voted in January 2022 in favor of a draft law that included annual enlistment targets for the ultra-Orthodox community.
The Reservists-Economic Party
The party says that “every citizen will report to the induction center, and from there will be assigned according to the military’s needs and the preferences of the prospective recruit, with military service receiving priority and national service tracks available for national missions. Except for medical exemptions, anyone who does not serve will face sanctions and lose state benefits.”
Those who do not enlist would lose a broad range of benefits, including “cancellation of tax and municipal tax discounts, denial of benefits such as participation in subsidized housing and daycare subsidies, revocation of a driver’s license, a ban on leaving the country, exclusion from public-sector and government jobs and denial of funding to educational institutions that do not support service.”
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism declined to address the question of sanctions against ultra-Orthodox draft evaders. It said Bezalel Smotrich’s plan includes “passing a Basic Law for Service Members under the principle of ‘first in equality’ — those who serve receive everything. We will anchor in a Basic Law the status of IDF service members and reservists, while granting priority to them and their spouses in housing and daycare.”
The party also said that “expanding the pool of those who serve” would be achieved in part by drafting ultra-Orthodox men.
Shas
For years, most Shas lawmakers said that those who do not study Torah should enlist, but in practice they did not act to enlist students who had dropped out of yeshivas. In 2024, a recording was published of Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef saying: “Even someone who does not study is exempt from going to the army.”
Now, following the Supreme Court sanctions, Shas acknowledges that it will no longer be possible to avoid drafting yeshiva students who have left their studies, and Knesset lawmaker Yinon Azoulay has said the military will need to adapt itself.
United Torah Judaism
Both the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction and the Degel HaTorah faction, which represents the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community, continue to oppose the enlistment of students who have dropped out of yeshivas and, of course, oppose a universal draft law.
United Torah Judaism says the law it seeks to pass is intended solely to regulate the status of those who study Torah. From its perspective, it is not the party’s role to instruct those who do not study to enlist — that is the military’s responsibility.