Ultra-Orthodox men who do not study Torah full-time “must enlist” in the Israel Defense Forces, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
“I respect the world of Torah because generations of my ancestors and your ancestors preserved Israel’s heritage through Torah study. But those who do not study Torah must enlist,” Netanyahu told soldiers of the Haredi Hasmonean Brigade during a visit to their base in the Jordan Valley.
However, when ultra-Orthodox men join the military “they must be granted the right to enter as Haredi and leave as Haredi,” the premier stressed.
“You are continuing the legacy of the Hasmoneans,” he told the troops. “This only adds strength—the fact that you can study Torah and serve, maintain a religious Haredi lifestyle and serve, hold the sword of David and serve, and also study.”
The leader of the Jewish state praised what he described as “the great increase in enlistment and in this desire to defend the State of Israel.
“We are in the midst of a war, still on seven fronts. Of course, we have monumental achievements. We are not finished yet, but these achievements come first and foremost from faith, from the spirit, and also from the power, the tools, the technology, and the weapons. But in the end, or rather at the very beginning, this comes from the Hasmonean spirit,” he declared.
Netanyahu visited the Jordan Valley military base alongside fellow Likud Party lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“Our two greatest values are the Torah that brought us here and the IDF that protects us,” Bismuth told the soldiers, according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“On this base, these two things connect—Torah with uniforms,” he continued. “I want to thank you, Prime Minister Netanyahu; this is happening on your watch. This revolution cannot be stopped.”
The Knesset is expected to vote to dissolve itself next week and call for elections after Netanyahu informed Haredi parties earlier this month that there was no majority to pass legislation regulating the exemption of Haredi yeshivah students from IDF service.
Israel’s coalition government in March moved to pass the 2026 state budget without the highly debated draft exemption bill, which was temporarily shelved.
Rabbi Dov Lando, a leading figure in the country’s Lithuanian Haredi community, subsequently ordered Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to “work toward dissolving the Knesset as soon as possible.”
According to official IDF data published earlier this week, 433 Haredi recruits joined the military as part of the April-May recruitment cycle, including a record 272 who entered combat positions.
The data marked an increase of some 24% compared to the same period in 2025, the army noted.
“Following the completion of the April–May recruitment cycle, combat training programs are now opening at their largest scale in the past three years,” the IDF said.
