A senior IDF official told lawmakers on Tuesday that the army is fully capable of drafting thousands more Chareidi men each year, directly challenging long-standing political claims that the military cannot absorb large-scale Chareidi enlistment.

Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, said the military could take in 5,760 additional Chareidi soldiers this year and, with advance notice, handle “everything needed beyond that” in the future.

“Everyone can serve in the IDF because we have opened enough diverse tracks,” Tayeb told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He also noted that the 10 percent of Chareidi men directed into non-military civil security service “do not contribute to what the IDF needs,” signaling the army’s preference for genuine military conscription over alternative frameworks.

Tayeb’s remarks come as the coalition’s proposed draft law — which would regulate Chareidi exemptions and set steep recruitment targets — faces growing opposition inside the committee.

The bill calls for 8,160 Chareidi conscripts in its first year, 6,840 in the second, 7,920 in the third, 8,500 in the fourth, and in its fifth year mandates that “no less than 50 percent” of the annual Chareidi cohort be drafted into either military or capped civil-security service.

But the legislation’s stated aims — to “regulate the status of full-time yeshiva students while recognizing the importance of Torah study,” and simultaneously “reduce inequality in conscription” — drew criticism from opposition MKs who say the objectives are contradictory and undermine the bill’s legitimacy.

Committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor told lawmakers that the law’s introduction leaves unclear which goals take precedence, and noted she has not issued a final opinion despite reports she opposes the bill.

Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) ended the session without revising the text, dismissing objections from opposition members seeking stronger language around compulsory service.

Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz urged the committee to amend the law’s language to center “military service and civilian service” while still recognizing Torah study. Without such changes, he said, the legislation cannot meaningfully address inequality.

Likud MK Avichai Boaron rejected the criticism, insisting the law is sound and requires only “adjustments here or there.” Speaking to reporters outside the hearing, he argued the legislation will lead to “tens of thousands” of Chareidi recruits in coming years — far more than envisioned in prior draft bills — and predicted growing social acceptance as rabbanim endorse the framework.

“Young Chareidi people will live in the example of their older peers who are enlisting, and this will bring change,” Boaron said, characterizing the bill as a historic turning point if implemented.

But divisions inside the coalition remain. Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, whose party has avoided publicly committing to the legislation, would say only that her faction “supports Chareidi recruitment, but opposes a method that creates antagonism.” She declined to say whether she would vote for the bill.

Avi Maoz of the far-right Noam party also withheld support, warning he would back only a “noncoercive” law approved by the Chareidi rabbinic leadership.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)