Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer (Religious Zionist Party) voiced strong opposition to the proposed haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft bill being advanced by the government, warning that its passage would lead to “the collapse of the Right” in the upcoming elections.
The remarks were captured in a recording of Sofer reportedly speaking at a closed-door meeting, which was released on Sunday by KAN News.
“If the law is advanced against the will and [inviting the] wrath of the reservists, the Right will collapse. It will pay an electoral price for this,” Sofer is heard saying. “Certainly, in gross terms and even if you look at more specific frameworks,” he added. Elections are currently scheduled to take place no later than October.
Sofer’s remarks in the recordings also criticized the country’s leading rabbis, who are known to advise the haredi parties in the Knesset: Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ).
“Why can’t we expect a letter from 25 important rabbis, maybe five, maybe 10 prominent ones, saying that we call on everyone who studies Torah to continue studying, that no one should leave the study hall, but whoever is not studying Torah should enlist? Why can’t we hear something like that?” the aliyah minister asks in the recordings.
Last week, the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah faction within UTJ, Rabbi Dov Landau, vowed that haredim would not be enlisted into the army.
“Whether the authorities agree to it or not, not a single yeshiva student, not even one, will go to the army,” Landau said during a Wednesday address.
The aliyah minister asserted in December that he would vote against the proposed haredi draft law, even at the risk of being dismissed from the government, calling the current outline “shameful.”
Will the bill pass and become law?
Support from the members of the Religious Zionist Party is considered key in determining whether the bill will be able to pass its second and third readings in the Knesset’s plenum and become a law.
Meanwhile, Religious Zionist Party leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has not said directly whether he would support the draft bill in its current form. However, Smotrich’s indirect stance has led to speculation that he may ultimately vote in favor of the bill.
Sofer is among the growing number of coalition lawmakers who have spoken against the draft law.
Opposition MKs have vehemently opposed the current outline of the bill.
Among the vocal critics of the legislation in the coalition are Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Heskel (New Hope-United Right), MK Dan Illouz (Likud), and former Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud).
Critics of the draft bill outline argue that the current version fails to enforce haredi conscription and aims to appease the haredi parties in the Knesset. The IDF has repeatedly said that it is in urgent need of more manpower, especially after over two years of war.
The draft bill is currently being advanced in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC), led by its chairperson, MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also vowed that the bill will pass soon and praised its outline during a confidential security assessment in the FADC on February 5.
Bismuth announced last month that the bill was ready to soon undergo its first vote in the committee. However, in the meantime, it recently faced hurdles in its advancement from the committee’s legal advisor, Miri Frenkel Shor.
Developments with the haredi draft bill have also become intertwined with the government’s passage of the 2026 state budget. The haredi parties have threatened to vote against the budget unless progress is made on the draft bill.
This also led to Smotrich’s involvement in negotiations with the haredi parties as finance minister.
By law, if the state budget is not approved in all three readings by the end of March, when the fiscal year closes, the Knesset will automatically dissolve, and elections will be called.
The budget passed its first reading last month, following tense coalition negotiations. However, the haredi parties have continued to issue threats to vote against the budget in its second and third readings.