During a panel discussion at the Ynet, Yedioth Ahronoth, and Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Defense and Service Conference, Laly Deri, whose son, Saadia, fell in battle in Gaza, spoke out against the policy of exempting yeshiva students from military service.

"In a normal, moral, Jewish, ethical world, the first that need to go to battle are the yeshiva students," Deri said at the start of the panel.

Later in the discussion, she criticized the use of Torah study as a reason to be exempted from service: "It drives me crazy, when there are families that are being worn out and soldiers who are killed, and people hide behind the Torah... It is the biggest disgrace of G-d's name that I can hear."

She added: "The haredi public needs to hear this voice. You are wrong, you are going against the Torah."

According to Deri, the haredi public is changing, "This public is exposed to characters such as Saadia, such as Rabbi Yossi Goldberg, such as so many soldiers, and that's changing something.

"Today, there is an existential threat to the country, and we don't have time for long processes. Every 18-year-old boy and girl must serve the country in some manner, first of all in the military, since there's an existential threat, and after that in civil service in the various realms."