Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly acknowledged Sunday that the temporary 'arrests law' aimed at managing Haredi conscription did not succeed, and said there will be no such law in the next government. According to details from a closed-door discussion reported by Amit Segal (N12), Netanyahu said that after the next elections he will form a broad national unity government that will immediately pass a full conscription law. 'Those who do not study Torah will enlist — or go to prison,' he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday went further than his earlier remarks in the same closed-door discussion, admitting that the temporary 'arrests law' aimed at managing Haredi conscription had failed and vowing to form a broad national unity government after the next elections that would immediately pass a full conscription law.
The remarks, reported by Amit Segal (N12) and first covered by The Zioneer in a series of updates at 13:25 Jerusalem time, represent the fullest account of the prime minister's position to emerge from the meeting. Earlier reports from Israel Hayom, Kan News, and i24NEWS had already quoted Netanyahu saying that draft dodgers would 'enlist or go to prison' and that the current legislative framework had failed.
The evolution of the reporting from a single source to multiple newsrooms, all citing the same closed-door discussion, indicates a coordinated briefing or a leak that was picked up across the Israeli media. The Zioneer's own coverage at 14:51 Jerusalem summarized the prime minister's admission and his plan for a new government.
The conscription issue has been a persistent fault line in the current coalition. As The Zioneer has reported in recent weeks, the government's attempts to pass a Basic Law: Torah Study and a freeze on arrests of Haredi draft evaders have faced opposition from the High Court and political pressure from the opposition and some coalition partners. The prime minister's shift in rhetoric, from defending the arrest freeze to declaring it a failure, marks a significant pivot.
What remains unclear is whether the vision of a broad national unity government can be realized after the elections, and how the promised full conscription law would balance the needs of the IDF with the demands of the Haredi parties. The prime minister did not specify the threshold for Torah study exemptions or the timeline for enforcement.
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