Israel’s ruling Likud party on Wednesday removed lawmaker Yuli Edelstein from a key Knesset post amid internal coalition tensions over the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the military.
Edelstein’s tenure as chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee ended with a 29–4 vote by Likud faction members to replace him with MK Boaz Bismuth.
The move is widely viewed as part of a broader effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a compromise with the Haredi parties, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, on the issue of military conscription for tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men.
Last week, both UTJ and Shas withdrew from the government over its failure to pass legislation exempting Haredi men from military service. However, the parties signaled that, for now, they would not bring down Netanyahu’s right-wing government by supporting a no-confidence motion from the opposition.
The parliament’s summer session ends on July 27, giving Netanyahu several months to secure an agreement before the Knesset reconvenes in the winter.
The regulations that allowed the exemption—which the Supreme Court canceled in 2024—applied only to yeshiva students. In practice, however, thousands of Haredi men who did not attend yeshivas were also granted exemptions. Edelstein had stated that any legislation regulating Haredi military service must ensure that this group is at least required to enlist.
Shas spokesman Asher Medina earlier this week blamed Edelstein for the failure to reach an agreement on a military draft bill. “I know that Netanyahu did everything he could,” Medina told Kan Reshet Bet radio station.
Edelstein has accused Haredi politicians of refusing to negotiate on compromises that the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee could legislate. He insisted on a law that would include “effective personal sanctions [on dodgers], high draft targets and a high rate of increase [in recruitments],” according to a Facebook post on June 4.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the state must begin drafting Haredi men into the Israel Defense Forces following the expiration of the previous exemption law in 2023.
“The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that at this time there is no legal framework that makes it possible to distinguish between students of the yeshivahs and others” with regard to mandatory military service, said the two-page ruling by the nine-justice panel. As such, the state does not have the authority to prevent their enlistment, it continued.
Moreover, as there is no legal mechanism to support their exemption from service, “It is not possible to continue transferring support funds for yeshivahs and kollels for students who did not receive an exemption or whose military service was not postponed,” the ruling states.
Last month, the government said that the IDF would issue more than 50,000 draft orders to ultra-Orthodox yeshivah students in July, and would soon heighten enforcement measures against those who have failed to present themselves at military recruitment offices.
