The Media Line: Likud and Coalition Figures Turn Against Draft Bill as Internal Revolt Expands  

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Likud and Coalition Figures Turn Against Draft Bill as Internal Revolt Expands  

By Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line  

The Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee began its first in-depth review of the coalition’s new military draft bill, and the discussion quickly exposed a deeper discrepancy inside the government than officials had acknowledged. Lawmakers from Likud and Religious Zionism, including the former committee chair, made clear that they cannot back the legislation in its present form. Their comments reveal immediate doubt about the coalition’s ability to move the bill forward.  

One of the strongest objections came from Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz, who delivered a detailed letter to Committee Chair Boaz Bismuth before the session. The Media Line had access to the document, in which he lays out a series of changes he considers essential. His criticism begins with the bill’s decision to scale back the financial and administrative sanctions that, in his view, helped raise enlistment numbers over the past year. Illouz wrote that removing these measures “cannot be called a draft law,” adding that the current design risks undoing progress achieved under the existing system.  

Illouz also challenged how the bill defines who is defined as Haredi. The proposal includes anyone who spent two years in a Haredi school between the ages of 14 and 18. He told The Media Line that the definition “inflates the numbers with people who would enlist anyway,” including those who have already left the Haredi community. In his letter, he warned that such a broad classification creates the appearance of attainable recruitment targets without offering the mechanisms needed to reach them.  

A further concern arises in the section dealing with evaluations. The bill delays the assessment of enlistment targets for 18 to 24 months. Illouz said Israel “cannot wait two years to determine whether the system works,” arguing that long delays make it difficult to correct problems in real time. He added that he hopes to support a credible draft framework, but that the current version “is not good enough and does not deliver the change the country needs.”  

Additional criticism came from Yuli Edelstein, the former committee chair who was removed earlier this year after advancing a previous draft opposed by ultra-Orthodox parties. Edelstein told the committee that the present text “does not aim to recruit Haredim but to preserve the coalition” and warned that passing the bill as written would harm national security. He dismissed comparisons to his earlier proposal, calling them “a mistake.”  

Members of the Religious Zionism party added their own resistance. Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer stated he would vote against the bill even at the risk of being removed from government. Lawmakers Michal Woldiger and Moshe Solomon expressed similar positions and said they could not support the legislation unless its central elements are adjusted.  

Bismuth attempted to keep the discussion focused while acknowledging the political tension inside the overcrowded room, as the debate unfolded under sharp criticism from bereaved families and former security officials. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the bill a “disgraceful evasion law,” and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot argued that it “will not bring a single soldier to the army.” Legal experts questioned whether the proposal meets basic equality requirements and whether it includes the enforcement tools needed to withstand judicial review.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to finalize the legislation within six weeks. Yet with senior Likud lawmakers and a growing number of coalition partners openly rejecting the draft, the coalition is struggling to hold the votes it needs.  

Photo Caption: Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line)