Israel parliament passes law freezing ultra-Orthodox draft dodger arrests

The Israeli parliament passed a law on Tuesday to freeze the arrest of Jewish ultra-Orthodox religious students who refuse to enlist in the army, sparking criticism from the opposition as the military faces a manpower shortage.

The bill cleared its final two readings by 58 votes to 54, just days before the parliament, or Knesset, dissolves ahead of the October 27 general elections.

Tense negotiations had been held for months over the issue between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties that support his government.

Leaders of the insular community have long opposed the conscription of its members, arguing that army service would pull young men away from religious study and erode their way of life.

Under an arrangement dating back to the country's founding in 1948, ultra-Orthodox men engaged in full-time religious study have been exempt from military service.

But calls to draft them have intensified in recent years as Israel has become embroiled in wars on multiple fronts.

The country's Supreme Court has also repeatedly challenged the exemption, culminating in a 2024 ruling that the government must conscript ultra-Orthodox men.

With the bill's passage, Netanyahu is now expected to secure the support of the two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, in the coming elections.

Under the bill, arrests of military-age students in Jewish ultra-Orthodox seminaries (known in Hebrew as yeshivah) who fail to show up for conscription is frozen until November 30, well after the date of the elections.

A student will be recognised as such if he spends at least 45 hours per week studying religious texts, and the ministry of defence is expected to compile a list of yeshivahs whose students fall under the scope of the law.

Opposition leaders lambasted the bill, shouting "shame, shame" from the benches of the parliament during the vote.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief of staff who has emerged as the main rival to Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, wrote on X after the vote that "the 58 hands that were raised are the hands of the most reckless coalition in Israel's history."

"This is a government that chooses to weaken the army in the midst of a brutal war, while the finest sons and daughters of this nation are deployed across all fronts, and it grants blanket approval and incentive for draft-dodging," he added.

Coalition members defended the legislation, arguing that arrests of draft-dodgers will not lead to their conscription.

"The arrests create the opposite effect of the one desired and may harm the recruitment effort and reduce the number of those who actually enlist," said lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, according to a parliament statement.

On Monday, the Knesset passed another bill declaring the study of Jewish religious texts a "fundamental value" of the state, a move widely seen as strengthening the ultra-Orthodox community's case for draft exemption.