Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Talks on New Israel Draft Law Collapse

A meeting of a committee convened for the purpose of creating new IDF draft legislation, focusing on ultra-Orthodox recruits, broke down as an intense argument between Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner and Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon erupted on Wednesday.

The two plan to submit the bill on Monday for a first reading in the plenum, and to finish the committee discussions by the following week. That’s the last week of Knesset activity before its summer recess – and before the Tal Law expires.

The argument concerned regulations for drafting ultra-Orthodox men, including the severity of sanctions on individuals who would fail to report for duty, as well as how long a full implementation of an ultra-Orthodox drafting program would take.

During the meeting, Yaalon revealed his final positions to Plesner for the first time, after days of exploring the possibilities. One official close to the committee commented “We’ve reached a dead end. Ya’alon has gone back on most of the conclusions reached with Plesner over the last few days.”

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.