Peloni: Avi so well captures the context of what is taking place with the Haredi Draft Law debacle.
Avi Abelow | Meta
No, I’m not happy that most ultra-Orthodox young men do not serve in the IDF. I think it is clearly against the Torah, as service in the IDF is literally a milmechemet mitzvah, and it is morally wrong. I understand the deep concerns and cultural barriers that keep many Haredim from serving, but I am personally involved in initiatives working directly with the ultra-Orthodox community to help them overcome these challenges and serve in the IDF.
No, I also don’t support the recent laws that Haredi parties pushed through the coalition.
But I refuse to be swept up in the one-sided, anti-Haredi hysteria that dominates much of Israel’s media and public discourse.
Once again, the mainstream media has directed public rage at the ultra-Orthodox community and at Netanyahu’s government for advancing legislation that appears to shield Haredi youth from enlistment. What they deliberately refuse to explain is how we actually got here and who pushed us to this point.
The Haredi parties didn’t suddenly wake up in the morning and demand new legislation in a vacuum before new elections. They made it a condition for remaining in the coalition because aggressive actions by the Attorney General, the legal system, and a public campaign caused the promising draft bill, which could have gradually solved the issue, to collapse. (This is especially significant since the Supreme Court would almost certainly have struck it down anyway, just as it has invalidated every previous draft law passed by the Knesset — further highlighting the Court’s own major responsibility for creating and perpetuating this crisis, also conveniently ignored in daily reporting on the issue.)
Instead, the Attorney General and the police began aggressive enforcement against Ultra-Orthodox yeshiva aged students and their families, never implemented before, including street arrests, drastic funding cuts, and criminal sanctions.
The Ultra-Orthodox leadership felt they had no choice but to demand legislative protection after the draft bill collapsed. Like it or not, that’s the context.
We can all disagree with these laws being passed, but focusing on the anger without the context and understanding why, is the successful culmination of the left’s cynical hijacking of a very real societal issue that must be solved, especially for the Ultra-Orthodox who want to be freed of the control the Rabbis and communities force upon them stopping them from integrating more into Israel society.
What is almost never reported is that the imperfect draft law in the works represented a genuine historic breakthrough. For the first time, leading Haredi rabbis were willing to support a framework that would gradually increase enlistment numbers and break their own stranglehold over the community that prevents broader Ultra-Orthodox integration into Israeli society.
No, the bill wasn’t perfect. But real societal revolutions don’t start with ideal solutions, they begin with the first meaningful step forward. And this imperfect bill was precisely that: a major breakthrough that would have enabled thousands of ultra-Orthodox young men to serve in the IDF and for the greater community to integrate into Israeli society with the explicit blessing and permission of their rabbinic leaders.
Instead of being given this crucial context, the Israeli public has been fed a constant daily diet of hatred toward the ultra-Orthodox community and toward the politicians who supported the original draft bill because it wasn’t “good enough”, which then pushed the Ultra-Orthodox parties to push for these recent laws to pass.
Like it or not, after the failure to pass the original draft law, Netanyahu and his coalition were forced into difficult long-term political calculations. They ultimately conceded to the Haredi parties’ demands for the recent legislation in order to preserve the coalition-block ahead of the upcoming elections,even though they knew it would anger large parts of their own voter base.
Short-term politics would have pushed them to vote against these bills. Instead, they chose the longer view. That’s actually a good thing.
Here is more context of this issue conveniently ignored in the daily reporting…
Soon after October 7, thousands of Haredim tried to enlist in the IDF. The IDF sent most of them away. How many of you heard about that in the mainstream media?
Also after Oct. 7, Haredi soldiers already serving in the IDF in began to be celebrated in parts of their own Uotra-Ortgidox communities, finally proudly wearing the IDF uniform in the streets of hardcore Hareidi communities, instead of taking them off out of fear of being ostracized. That was a profound cultural shift. This also is conveniently being ignored in all reporting on the issue.
But then, in the middle of the war, politics poisoned everything, and turned the situation around making it worse than before.
Opposition leaders, especially Yair Lapid, the mainstream media, and massive advertising campaigns viciously attacked the draft bill being worked on in the Knesset, creating a hateful atmosphere that caused the entire Haredi community to retreat under siege and once again step back from the promising initial public support of IDF service.
Massive, well-funded advertising campaign, under various new-named organizations, was launched in national-religious media, targeting any politician who dared support the draft bill. This relentless advertising offensive incited hatred not only against the bill, but against the entire ultra-Orthodox community. Shockingly, there was almost no public scrutiny into the sources of the funding behind this day-after-day, week-after-week media campaign targeting the National-religious public that has continued for nearly two years.
At the same time, videos have surfaced showing prominent leftist protest leader attorney Ayelet Hashachar Seidof proudly taking responsibility and hiring provocateurs within the community to create chaos and division inside the Haredi community over the draft issue, highlighting a highly developed strategy and work plan, in her own words, to destroy the ultra-orthodox community from within as part of the political left’s clear political agenda, clear evidence of deliberate attempts by the political left to divide the Jewish people from within when unity is most needed. She literally rhetorically asks in a recording “you think that chaos was organic”?
Adding to the cynicism is the fact that both Yair Golan and Gadi Eisenkot, leaders of politically left parties that are open to working with anti-Israel Arab parties to topple Netanyahu, have openly admitted they would not force ultra-Orthodox enlistment if they return to power. Yair Golan himself admitted in a recorded statement that this is a deep societal change that will take time, exposing that much of the public battle over the ultra-Orthodox draft law was never really about immediate conscription, but about raw politics and toppling Netanyahu.
Under this mounting pressure, the gradual process due to the war that could have increased Haredi integration into the IDF and Israeli society lost momentum, and was ultimately derailed by cynical politics disguised as a fight for “equality and equity.” This brilliantly executed strategy by the political left succeeded in turning many natural supporters of this government against it, all at the expense of Israeli unity and society.
To make matters worse, there has been virtually no public scrutiny of the political left for these efforts, while the flames of hatred toward the ultra-Orthodox community continue to be fanned.
The Attorney General then intensified enforcement, leading to arresting Ultra-Orthodox in the streets like never before, creating deeper distrust between the Ultra-Orthodox community and law enforcement, and leading to the continuous Ultra-Orthodox street protests since. (Ironically, the same media outlets that harshly condemn ultra-Orthodox street blockades as illegal and demand aggressive police action against them are the very ones that enthusiastically supported the nightly street closures by the anti-government left, while excusing the police’s repeated inaction to end them. Just some more important context that is rarely mentioned.)
Real, lasting change in Haredi society cannot be imposed by judges, prosecutors, or politicians chasing “equality” on paper, due to the passing of a law. That is naive. Real societal change requires the support, or at least the acceptance, of Ultra-Orthodox rabbinic leadership. That is simply how that community works.
Ironically, the imperfect draft law that had rabbinic backing, would have ended the rabbinic stranglehold over the community and done have done more for enlistment and societal integration over time than a more “perfect” bill.
I want to see far more Haredim serving in the IDF.
But I want it done in a way that creates real, sustainable change, not just headlines and deeper division.
The challenge is not just passing a law. It is transforming a deeply insular society while addressing its genuine concerns. That demands patience, trust, and leadership, qualities that are in short supply when the draft issue is weaponized for political gain, conveniently ignored in the public discourse on the issue.
I am confident this issue will ultimately be solved. And ironically, just as I wrote in my Jerusalem Post op-ed nearly two years ago, the day it is solved, the same voices on the political left who are weaponizing it today to topple Netanyahu will likely be the loudest ones screaming that they refuse to send their own children to serve in an IDF with growing enlistment of Ultra-Orthodox soldiers, because the army has become “too Jewish.”
Oh, the irony.
I hope this context helps better understand what is really going on.
With it all, we are still more united as a nation than ever before. Strengthen your faith. Stick with me for the truth.
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
Have you ever noticed how the left parties and coalitions like to give themselves names like Zionist Union when they’re not or Democrats when they’re not except perhaps in the undemocratic American sense, certainly not with a small d. What are some other examples?
George Orwell. Politics and the English Language. 1946.
Yishai Fleischer weighs in and I agree with him.
https://youtu.be/D-wdvU_kls4?is=1hcgqSc9H4O5fKNh
Do the Maariv polls reflect a leftist biasis or they objective and reasonably accurate? Asked of my A1 assistant.
If anyone disagrees with the data and conclusions of both the Maariv polling and Channel 14. They should in detail show the historical data that in both cases proves different conclusions and with data. Saying what the AI came up with is wrong and only their viewpoint is correct, does not make sense. Prove your point do not just say what I researched was wrong.
@Rafi
Maariv does show a left leaning bias. It is not unique among Legacy Polling, as your AI states, but that only confirms what I stated about the Left leaning bias being present in the Legacy Polls.
Reasonably accurate? Your AI needs to be checked. Maariv predicted that the Right would not form a govt following the 2022 election which was noted to be a landslide victory for the Right. In fact the final Maariv poll “predicts that none of the two blocs currently have the ability to form a government.” They were so confident of their conclusion that they also predicted that there was a 51% likelihood that Bibi would retire when he failed to win the election. Thank G_d that this did not come to be. Are these the “reasonably accurate” results your AI is referencing?
Also, the phrase “methodologically conventional” means that it uses the same form of polling as other Legacy Pollsters, which also confirms what I stated. It doesn’t indicate that this is more reliability as it is just following the herd, and as the results above demonstrate the herd had it all wrong, and as I also indicated previously, this is NOTHING new. Again I ask you to show me a single poll in any election that does not show Maariv producing polling results that are Left of the actual election results. You won’t find one, not even one. This is what the phrase ‘systematic bias’ means.
This is silly. Of course Maariv doesn’t exhibit any systematic Right wing inflation because it does demonstrate systematic Left wing inflation. Also, the fact that it is not the only poll which demonstrates left leaning bias still does not make it accurate, even if your AI agent tells you that it does. That is why Maariv and all the other Legacy polls made false predictions in their final polls, and every single Legacy Poll pushed the same inacurate narrative.
Facts are facts. As the 2022 election results show, Maariv has a historic left leaning bias, as I previously stated. Please prove me wrong and show me where they ever break this trend in their long history of polling elections.
@Rafi
You and others may find this report by Rabbi Pesach Wolicki to be enlightening. He also confirms everything I have stated and more. It is ten minutes long, and begins at the 23 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/qsfHPmlW734?t=1377
I have looked into it and do not agree with you nor your reliance on Fiber with his clear bias. It is okay to disagree. We are having an honest discussion and we view things differently.
@Rafi
Correct but facts are facts. You are saying you disagree that there is a left leaning bias from the Maariv polls? What election did you find that Maariv polls did not show results which were furher to the Left tan the actual election results? Please show me a single example of this. Again , this is nothing to do with filber. We are simply talking about the consistent left leaning bias in Maariv polls.
Likud will lose because of Haredi partnerhip
New Poll: Hendel and Tropper clear electoral threshold, reshaping the political Blocs
A new Maariv poll shows Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper’s party entering the Knesset with four seats, while Likud and Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! are tied.
Israel National News
Published: Jul 17, 2026, 12:54 PM (GMT+3)
A Maariv poll published Friday points to a significant shift in Israel’s political landscape. The new “Yesodot Israel” party, led by Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel, crosses the electoral threshold for the first time with four seats, while Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! and Likud are tied at 22 seats each.
Naftali Bennett’s Together party drops by two seats to 16. The Democrats, led by Yair Golan, gain one seat to reach 11, while Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu falls by two seats to nine.
Within the coalition bloc, Likud gains one seat to reach 22, while Shas and Otzma Yehudit each lose one seat, falling to seven. United Torah Judaism remains at eight seats, and the Religious Zionist party holds steady at four.
Among the Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al drops one seat to five, while Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, remains at five seats. Balad and Blue and White fail to cross the electoral threshold, polling at 2% and 1.7%, respectively.
The poll gives Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition bloc 48 seats, one fewer than in the previous survey. The Zionist opposition, including the new Tropper-Hendel party, reaches 62 seats, while the Arab parties collectively hold 10 seats, one fewer than in the previous poll.
The survey also found that 83% of opposition voters oppose including haredi parties in a future governing coalition, while 8% support such a move. Among coalition voters, 59% support including the haredi parties, compared with 19% who oppose it.
Among Arab party voters, 70% support including one or more Arab parties in the next coalition, 10% oppose the idea, 16% say it makes no difference to them, and 4% are undecided.
The poll further found that a majority of Israelis do not trust the current government to make the right decisions until the next election. Fifty-five percent said they lack confidence in the government, while 38% expressed confidence. Trust remains high among coalition voters at 78%, while 85% of opposition voters, 80% of Arab party voters, and 64% of undecided voters said they do not trust the government.
The survey was conducted by Lazar Research, headed by Dr. Menachem Lazar, in cooperation with the All4Panel online panel.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/430327
@Rafi
Again, Maariv polls are historically weighted to support victories of the Left. They made the case in the 2022 election that Bibi could not form a govt then. While we can not know what we can only guess at, what we should be assured of is that the Legacy polling has an inherent bias in its polling data, be it intentional or not. Whatever the cause for the bias, it is real, historic, and unlikely to not influence its current reporting of doom for the national camp.
I know your viewpoint. I am not an Eisenkot fan, but I believe the latest polls (excluding Channel 14) reflect what is going on in Israel. You may not like it or agree with it, but I certainly believe it reflects reality at this point in time.
Can this change of course? Can there still come on stage a new right wing or center/right party that will take votes from others? Yes!!
I am in favor of a coalition of all Zionist parties (in other words NO Arab or Haredi parties (against the draft). This should include the Likud. To make this possible probably Bibi would have to step aside after the election. So far, he has always refused to do this, and the Likud has become the Bibi party. Maybe if he gets trounced things will change. One can hope!!
@Rafi
I agree. I would prefer to see a government formed from all zionist parties. But I question , how much of a zionist credo a party might have if it’s number one focus is that it will not form a government with Netanyahu , who is clearly as Zionist.
Anti Bibism is not a Zionist platform as it places personalities above Zionist objectives. It is the old hatreds coming to fruition again, not unlike the insanity which gripped Ben Gurion when he attacked the Altalena.
BeyoND this, Forming the government without Netanyahu would leave the only individual we have to thank for Israel taking possession of Rafah out of the govt while Including eisencott , who was one hundred percent against taking Rafah. For me that would be a problem.
My AI assistant came up with the following conclusion when I asked it to compare Maariv versus Channel 14 polling accuracy.
What is more accurate in Israeli polling, Maariv polling or Channel 14 polling?
Answer from my AI assistant is:
My reply remains accurate no matter what your AI response suggests. Do a bit of looking into the numbers for yourself. The Legacy Polling all maintain a legitimate and clear bias, and what is more is that the refuse to make their crosstabs public. This is irrelevant to any comparison to Filber or Direct polls.
Another very recent poll showed the following:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/opposition-zionist-bloc-led-by-eisenkot-would-win-narrow-61-seat-majority-poll/ar-AA281b8A?ocid=BingNewsSerp
I still think it is premature to count on any poll. Polls in any case are a snapshot in time.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422364
What are the other pollsters reporting? Anyway, as parties are still forming, I believe it is premature to count on any pollsters at this point in time.
You maybe, correct it maybe it difficult to form a coalition without the Haredi.
If Smotrich does move to the Likud (technically for election purposes) it might help. However, when speaking to people and reading reports many people find the laws passed to protect draft dodgers are beyond the pale (never mind will likely not be legal)!
We will need to see where the parties stand in the end (and which parties are created and pass the threshold).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-mk-announces-resignation-says-party-has-been-hijacked-by-haredi-interests/
@Rafi
I was surprised that Ilouz waited this long to leave Likud, to be honest. That being stated, here is what he said about Bibi just a few months ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGx6ITwxu6U
Point is there are many Likudniks (voters and politicians) who no longer can tolerate the current bending over to the Haredi at the cost of the state security nor cover up of Oct. 7.
@Rafi
Well, we will see if your view holds merit. So far, Likud has lost how many of its politicians now? Exactly 2, and both of these were expected to have jumped ship back in April, some 3 months ago. Why do you think they waited three months? They clearly lacked the confidence of what you claim to be true, and even now, with only a few weeks til the lists close, only two members of Likud have taken to flee the ranks of Likud to serve as evidence of what you state. Time will tell of course, but there seems to be a great hesitancy of any revolt coming from within Likud. Looking at things objectively, this is the point I draw from these delayed and limited defections. Is this the late trickle before the flood, or is it just the late trickle that never matures into something more substantive. I recall the anticipation of Likud breaking up to support Bennett back in 2021, something which was stated was inevitable. Well, it wasn’t inevitable, and it didn’t materialize. So we will see if such a split in Likud forms further than what we see now.
Simple Fix have 90% of male Haredi serve as all other males serve religious or not. 10% chosen by Yeshiva heads can continue in the Yeshivot.
Good idea, but there are extenuating circumstances… for example, a young man that has found a wife and fathered a child or two may be relieved of such duties. The 10% number is not really a good number. We should make it a fixed number instead like maybe 2000 people who really want to study Torah and make a life of it. Even so, they should be integrated into the IDF for religious purposes, like today. For example, dealing with the dead, to ensure they get a proper Jewish burial or even dealing with marriages and circumcisions for IDF personnel. There are plenty of tasks that even Haredim can fulfill.
The IDF requires kosher food for everyone. No exceptions. Kosher food is special, only in that the rules are followed. All get milk products and meat products and the assorted side-dishes all follow the rules.
There is a different factor in the IDF that disturbs the Haredim or ultrareligious: They can and do come in contact with members of the opposite sex.
Men may be trained by women or receive medical attention from women. Women are no better off in this respect and can encounter the same kinds of situations.
If we want ultrareligious members of the population to serve in the IDF, this issue must be dealt with. There have been issues where men refused to here women sing. For most people, that is not a problem, but it is for them. Haredi units must ensure that these situations are never encountered. Then all will be well.
The context of the Haredim is arrogance by the UTJ /Shas politicians and cynicism by Bibi and Co. Why fix it if NOT broke.
The trouble is that things broke on and since 7th Oct ’23 / Shemini Atzeret.
Now grow up: either things are kosher or they are not and since the IDF organised itself in1949 if not before, the kitchens have are kosher so stop fussing and pull together.
@frrankadam@aol.com
It is more substantive an issue than Haredi arrogance and Bibi cynicism, if I understand your comment correctly, as dreuveni notes. But more than this, the real issue is that the Left are intent on not allowing the problem to be fixed. Notably, Bibi took a stand, and it wasn’t a popular one, to address this issue, and the High Court struck it down. That left him using bandaid legislation to get thru the election, and that was struck down as well.
It is important to reflect that by doing so, Bibi squarely placed his support for the Haredi reforms, such as they were, on the ballot, which meant that everyone would have an opportunity to vote support for this deal or against it. This is a political issue and unlike what will follow the election, Bibi is demonstrating his position so that people can literally vote their support for or against his actions. Instead, the High Court struck down even this attempt at democratic influence on the subject.
It is the Left’s deplorable anti-religion stance that is causing the major problems here, as you say. In every country where they have a voice they oppose anything that enshrines religion into law. I live in the UK, which is nominally a Christian country, and the Lefties always oppose laws that protect life, from abortion to euthanasia. Public prayer is often made a cause for litigation. You can be arrested for displaying Biblical quotes in public spaces in case someone might be offended! Regardless, Israel is a Jewish State – the only one – and this religion must have legal protection. Haredi Jews can be protected from unwanted contact with the opposite sex, as suggested above, and since this seems to be the major problem, it must be addressed as soon as possible. If this is done, Haredi men should be expected to serve in the IDF just as other men are. Of course there may be special circumstances, also as suggested above. A new father, a newly appointed rabbi, someone with extra family duties who has no wife to assist him – all these might be considered. Otherwise, service should be mandatory.