Eli Yishai
Eli YishaiIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Minister Eli Yishai, who heads the Shas party, predicted Tuesday that by the next decade there will be more hareidim than secular people serving in the IDF and alternative national service.

Yishai told Voice of Israel radio that thousands of hareidim are interested in joining the Nahal Hareidi or carry out national service, but the budgets and frameworks necessary for absorbing them are not in place.

"The IDF does not want to enlist all the hareidim, and the National Service array is not capable of the task either," he added.

"Hareidi society is undergoing a revolution in the last few years," Yishai said, and noted that 10,000 hareidim have entered the ranks of the Israeli academia.

The Plesner Committee for equality in enlistment was a political committee whose chairman "sought headlines," he said.