Draft law author Boaz Bismuth is convinced that he’s found the formula to protect both the country and Torah study

Photo: Flash90

It’s hard not to notice the weariness that almost washes over MK Boaz Bismuth during this interview. His days begin at sunrise and end long after nightfall. In recent months, the chairman of the most important committee in the Knesset has become the figure upon whose shoulders rest not only the entire coalition, but one of the most contentious Jewish questions of our time: the chareidi draft law.

Bismuth, 61, was once one of Israel’s most prominent journalists. He burst onto the national scene as the Paris correspondent for Maariv and Yediot Ahronoth. In that period, thanks to his French passport, he even entered enemy states such as Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. He also previously served as Israel’s ambassador to Mauritania.

Ahead of the last elections he ran in the Likud primaries, placed 19th, and was slotted 27th on the party list for the Knesset.

Today he occupies one of the most sensitive positions in the country: Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He inherited the role after the Likud faction decided to remove the previous chair, MK Yuli Edelstein, after the latter effectively defied the prime minister regarding the advancement of the Draft Law.

The draft law his committee has produced, like any product of compromise, has made no one ecstatically happy. The bill has won grudging support from Degel HaTorah and Shas, which see it as the least-bad alternative, but Agudas Yisrael has said it will not approve it due to the sanctions on yeshivah students still maintained in this bill.

The law states that civilian service in units under the Prime Minister’s Office counts as service, and defines a chareidi as someone who studied in chareidi institutions for at least two years between ages 14 and 18.

From the chareidi perspective, the draft targets are tough, almost impossible to implement:

• 8,160 recruits in the first year (effectively a year and a half, until June 2027)
• 6,840 in the second year
• 7,920 in the third
• and no fewer than 8,500 in the fourth.
• From the fifth year onward, according to the law, 50 percent of each annual chareidi graduate cohort will be drafted.

Chareidi MKs find it hard to see how they could support a law with such high targets, yet they understand that after the war, alternatives are minimal. The opposition, on the other hand, quickly labeled the law a “conscript escape law,” claiming it would exempt tens of thousands of chareidi youth from military service.

Bismuth has nevertheless strongly defended the bill and brushed off demands that sanctions against yeshivah students be strengthened.

What motivated you to step into this role — chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee — at the moment this bill came up for debate? It’s like you came in and deliberately set foot on the third rail of Israeli politics.

I view this as a historic challenge. A true mission. Why do I call it a mission? Because I am required to deal with the two values I believe in most: the existence of an army to defend the people of Israel, and the continuation of the Torah world, which is why we are all here.

I believe in protecting the Torah students and the Torah world. To preserve that social fabric, which we call Israeli society, you have to come from a place of love.

That is a very noble sentiment. But many of the people pushing the draft of yeshivah students are coming from a different place. How do you expect your approach to work?

I love the chareidi world, and I love the army, and that is why I approach it this way. This week, I presented the law to the committee. Some expected an all-out war in the committee, but I don’t allow it to play out that way. I respect. I respect the opposition, I respect the coalition, both those who accuse me and those who support me.

I can tell you that I had meetings far from the public eye with very significant figures in the chareidi world, including great rabbis and rebbes who sent their sons to present their principles. I have never revealed who I met, and I will not, but I can say I heard everyone who wanted to be heard.

And of course, I met reservists, various organizations, top military officials, the Minister of Defense. There were dozens of meetings over these months. I studied the issue in depth, its complexity, and I believe that we are bringing an excellent law.

Your predecessor as committee chair, Yuli Edelstein, reached some agreements with the chareidi parties on the draft law wording, back before the Iran strike. Did you rely on those agreements that he struck?

I did not come and say, “Here are the pre-strike agreements, let’s take them and advance.” Absolutely not. We reassessed everything. There was a base, but everything was examined anew. I think we upgraded the understandings on many levels.

Nevertheless, the bill you produced has come under attacks from all sides. Were you prepared for that?

There is a crazy gap between the quality of the law — it’s genuinely a good law — and the shaming it receives. Political shaming. It comes from the opposition.

If you ignore the opposition for a moment, this law shows a dramatic shift in trends. I repeat: When I worked on this law, I also thought about how to respect the chareidi public and their way of life.

When I worked on the draft law, I did it with a deep understanding that there are cultural differences between us, and I respect them. You can’t change something that didn’t exist for years overnight. To be honest, it’s impossible. You cannot force someone to serve and go on a campaign. You cannot force them.

So what, put everyone in jail? Nonsense. Any sensible person knows it wouldn’t work, so there must be agreement. And from where I come, my son, who is about to have a bar mitzvah in a yeshivah high school — and I am someone who loves and respects the lifestyle of chareidi Jews — I will not allow it to reach those extremes.

But where is the majority that support this law, that will get it over the goal line? When it’s being attacked from all sides, it’s hard to see it going forward.

I am an inclusive person, even toward the extremists. But there is no doubt that with the extremists, we cannot reach where we want to go. Therefore, I hope the more central elements will support this law, which is a good law.

Moreover, back [in 2015,] when President [Reuven] Rivlin gave the “Four Tribes” speech, he spoke about the chareidi, the national-religious, the secular, and the Arab. I disagreed with him because he forgot one tribe, which is very significant: I am neither chareidi nor secular. I am the traditional tribe, who respects the Torah and its students, loves Judaism, but does not fit into the definitions of chareidim or Religious Zionists.

There is a huge public in this country that lives and feels this way. A public that respects the Torah and its students but understands that change is necessary because there is a real need. A public that comes not from hatred but from respect. A public that does not seek to change the chareidi public, Heaven forbid, but wants to adapt the frameworks for the chareidi community, and so on. I am there, and I know a significant, large part of Israeli society is there. You just won’t hear about it in the media.

The criticism also comes from chareidi MKs. For example, MK Meir Porush of Agudas Yisrael, who said in the committee this week that the law should be torn up.

I want to hope that I can convince my friend, former minister Porush — whom I have a great deal of respect for — that this law is a good and proper law. We were in the first discussion this week after presenting the draft, and in my opinion, more than one or two MKs who said this week that they would oppose the law will, in the end, vote in favor.

By the way, when one side doesn’t like the law and the other side doesn’t like it either, that’s a sign I worked well. After all, anyone who opposes it does so reflexively. There was already a law in the previous Knesset that passed its first reading. Then the opposition voted for it, and the chareidim voted against. I tell you, now the chareidi MKs understand this is a good law. The opposition yells, even though they know this law is far more significant than the law they themselves tried to pass in the previous term.

And another point: I was a journalist for many years, so I know the field a bit. The media highlights the noise and headlines, those shouting, “We’ll die and not enlist.” That is not the real reality. How do I know? Because I don’t consume that media — I meet the people on the street.

There’s a claim that even if the chareidim meet the targets, the law still defines the yeshivah student as a second-class citizen.

Absolutely not. The opposite. For the first time, the law formalizes the status of a ben Torah, a student sitting and learning in a yeshivah. By the way, I received criticism for this at the beginning of the committee discussion this week. On the face of it, this is a draft law, so why am I dealing with formalizing the status of Torah students? But I say it out loud, and I am not at all ashamed. My law also formalizes the status of Torah students.

Torah students are a vital population in Israel. Why? Because they preserve me here. This is what some opponents may not understand. I am here in this land because of the Torah. And more than that: I am a believing person, but I do not know how my grandchildren will be. I don’t know. But I do know how the grandchildren of a Torah student will be. He keeps me here, and that’s why it’s important to me.

According to my proposed law, assuming the targets are met, a ben Torah will be able to study Torah, go abroad, get a license, and receive all the rights due to him by law.

Israel’s New Chareidi Conscription Bill

Yaacov Lipszyc

Under the proposal, chareidi men could be drafted from age 18 through 26. Meeting IDF conscription quotas is expected to happen “voluntarily,” through young men who self-identify as chareidi under the bill’s newly broadened definition. Military service in Israel lasts 36 months.

How Many Soldiers Does the IDF Need?

The IDF brass say they need roughly 12,000 additional soldiers each year. The current proposal doesn’t reach that figure, but it sketches a glide path meant to narrow the gap.

The “Bismuth Bill”

The debate centers on the fixed chareidi conscription quotas, the penalties for missing those targets, and crucially, the redefinition of who counts as “chareidi.”

Counting Soldiers

In its first stage — an 18-month period dictated by implementation timelines — the bill envisions 8,160 recruits. Year Two demands 6,840, before climbing in Year Three to 7,920 and 8,500 in Year Four. By Year Five, the law aims for “more than half” of the eligible chareidi cohort: roughly 7,000 to 9,000 young men, depending on the size of that year’s draft class.

Who Counts as Chareidi?

The bill’s definition is straightforward: Anyone who spent at least two years in a religious institution from age 14 onward qualifies. Critics describe this as a bureaucratic sleight-of-hand — broad enough to include young men who may no longer live anything resembling a chareidi life but who still appear, on paper, inside the community. Previously, the legal threshold was three years.

What, Exactly, Would They Have to Do?

The previous version insisted that chareidi draftees serve in combat units — a provision that proved politically combustible. The new proposal relaxes that requirement. Beyond the IDF, service could take place in the Israel Police, the Prison Service, the Shin Bet, or the Mossad. Negotiators tried to include civilian emergency-response organizations such as Hatzalah and Zaka — where many chareidim already volunteer — but these efforts failed to achieve consensus.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Enforcement operates on two levels.

For individuals: Draft-eligible men who fail to comply would be barred from leaving the country until age 26, lose access to state stipends for low-income Israelis (a basic pillar of support for most avreichim), and be ineligible for a driver’s license until age 23.

For institutions: Yeshivos that miss their recruitment quotas would face reductions in state funding — a dramatic pressure point in a sector heavily dependent on public budgets.

The Central Anxiety

The question that looms above all others: Will chareidim who enter the army leave as chareidim? The IDF points to units like the Hashmonaim, composed entirely of religious soldiers, as proof that it can accommodate strict observance. Skeptics remain unconvinced; the fear of cultural erosion persists as one of the community’s deepest red lines.

Counting the Votes

The proposal draws its firmest backing from the Likud’s ultra-Bibistic faction, as well as from the Sephardi party Shas and the Lithuanian-Ashkenazi Degel HaTorah. The Religious-Zionist bloc is split, caught between ideological commitment to universal service and political alliances with the chareidi parties.

The center-left opposition dismisses the bill as far too lenient toward the chareidim. The chassidic party Agudas Yisrael, on the other hand, views the bill’s quotas and sanctions as an assault on the autonomy of the olam haTorah.

What Happens Next?

The draft law will be debated in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for several more weeks. If the committee signs off, the bill returns to the Knesset for final readings. Passage would make it law — though not necessarily for long. Some legal experts predict the High Court will strike it down on equality grounds, arguing that it grants preferential treatment to one population segment.

If the Bill Fails?

In theory, the coalition would collapse, triggering new elections. In practice, many analysts suspect that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would prefer to stretch the legislative process, signaling good-faith effort to all sides and leaving the issue suspended in legal-political limbo. This would allow him to mollify his chareidi partners, reassure voters that he “tried,” and preserve his government through the end of its mandate. —

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1090)