Former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar!) vowed “not to lend his hand to a draft-evasion law” as he attended back-to-back meetings to advance the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription law at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.
“In my view, the proposed law will not be a historic law; it will be a historic mistake that will endanger the security of the State of Israel,” he told the panel.
Former prime minister and renewed political contender Naftali Bennett also slammed the bill. Speaking at Tel Aviv University’s Cyber Week conference, he said that if he returns to office, one of his first three acts will be to cancel the government’s haredi draft legislation entirely.
Their remarks came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support on Monday for the revised version of the bill, currently being led by Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairperson MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud).
Netanyahu had praised the revised outline of the conscription bill, calling it “the beginning of the historic process of bringing the haredim into the army,” in remarks at a Knesset debate.
However, critics of the bill argue that the outline still fails to enforce haredi conscription, stalls for time, and attempts to appease the haredi parties to coax them to return to the government.
The two haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, left the government in July over disagreements surrounding the bill, which had previously been advanced by former committee chair MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud).
Marathon discussions on the haredi conscription bill have been taking place to advance the new outline ahead of the soon-anticipated second and third readings at the Knesset’s plenum.
In his remarks to the panel, Eisenkot vowed that he “would not lend his hand to a draft-evasion law, even if it leads to yet another round of elections.”
The former chief of staff had formerly been a member of Knesset, standing as the number two in MK Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party before he resigned in July. He then announced the establishment of his own party in September.
Eiskenot spoke about how he had attended numerous discussions on the previous outline of the bill and warned of the dangers of the current version.
Israel is facing 'strategic turning point'
HE ALSO spoke on the shift the country has faced since the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023, noting that it is currently “facing a strategic turning point for generations.”
“We will be in an emergency routine for many years to come. I am issuing a strategic warning here: The draft-evasion law will dismantle the people’s army.
“I say this as someone deeply familiar with the data,” Eisenkot stressed.
Meanwhile, Bismuth told the panel that he would not support a law that harms the State of Israel.
One of the core aspects being discussed in the meeting was having national service considered as 10% of the haredi conscription quota in the bill’s outline. Ahead of the panel, the committee’s legal advisor, Miri Frenkel Shor, had sent out an opinion on the bill raising issues with counting national civilian service as part of enlistment targets.
The IDF has repeatedly warned that it urgently lacks manpower in its combat units.
The panel also included statements from bereaved family members, calling for equal conscription to the IDF after losing their loved ones who served in the military.
Yuval Zaushnicar lost her partner, Nahal commander Maj. Roey Chapell, on October 7, when he was defending the communities of Nir Yitzhak and Sufa.
She spoke about her loss and the importance of everyone in the country serving.
“We all need to be part of this effort. After October 7, I experienced immense loss,” she told the panel.
“I decided that I will continue to believe in this country and build a family here, even though the state keeps placing obstacles in my way. I feel like they stabbed me in the heart, and every time, they twist the knife a bit more and a bit more,” she said.
In addition to Bennett’s statements on the draft law, the former prime minister also said that if elected, he would cancel the government’s “politicized” probe into October 7 and limit the term of the country’s leader to eight years.
Bennett was referring to the government’s initiative to circumvent a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster with a probe run by government-selected officials.
Critics have said that such a committee would seek to absolve the government of responsibility for the disaster rather than seeking the truth.
Finally, with Netanyahu surpassing 18 years in three separate terms of office, Bennett promised to set eight years as the maximum time any single individual could serve, as is the rule in the United States.