Defense Minister Israel Katz criticized the intention of the IDF to send 14,000 additional recruitment orders to haredim by May.
"The principles of the recruitment law that I laid before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset are based on two central principles: setting goals for significant military service of the haredim community in the IDF - including clear sanctions in the event of not meeting the recruitment targets - alongside safeguarding and preventing harm to the world of Jewish learning, which is an important foundation for our existence here as a Jewish state. Only by moving forward with these two principles together can we make historical change and pass a recruitment law with broad national consent."
"This recruitment law will lead to the rapid integration of tens of thousands from the haredim community as combatants and combat support in the IDF, which is in dire need of additional manpower in both regular service and reserves. Any other method that has been tried thus far, including sending orders unilaterally - has failed and has led to a grim reality where only a small percentage of the haredim serve in the IDF."
According to the Defense Minister, "Those who want to incite and divide instead of embracing, uniting, and finding a real solution have no place here. These are the positions that I express everywhere, and any attempt to distort or misrepresent them will not succeed."
MK Gilad Kariv from the Democrats tweeted: "Mr. 'Principles' - your job is not to present principles before the Knesset committee. Your job is to present a practical plan to recruit 10,000 young haredim annually, so that reservists are not called for a fifth and sixth round, so that asthma patients are not recruited for combat, and so that we can protect Israeli citizens."
Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) wrote that Katz "is undermining the middle class, intends to send soldiers with medical issues to combat, frequents Hassidic courts, and promises 'not to harm the world of Torah' to garner some votes for the primaries. The Minister of Evasion. Shame on you."
The IDF, under the guidance of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, is preparing to increase the number of arrests and detentions of haredi Yeshiva students who have received arrest warrants after refusing to enlist. In recent weeks, there has been staff work on this issue between the IDF and the Population and Immigration Authority, which is responsible for crossings at Ben Gurion Airport - one of the main points at which haredi students are arrested.
In a discussion held in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday about the exemption from enlistment law, the IDF's representative Avigdor Dikstein, said that "Starting Thursday, 14,000 additional recruitment orders will be sent to the haredim in three phases: on Thursday, the first phase in which 5,000 orders were sent, on 6.4 another 5,000, and on 4.5 an additional 4,000 orders will be sent."
During the discussion, MK Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid) asked the personnel division representative: "Is it realistic that we will meet the target of 4,800 recruits in 2025?" Dikstein replied to her: "Unfortunately, as we analyze it - no. We will be around 3,000."