It’s hard not to notice the weariness that almost washes over MK Boaz Bismuth during this interview. His days begin at sunrise and end long after nightfall. In recent months, the chairman of the most important committee in the Knesset has become the figure upon whose shoulders rest not only the entire coalition, but one of the most contentious Jewish questions of our time: the chareidi draft law.
Bismuth, 61, was once one of Israel’s most prominent journalists. He burst onto the national scene as the Paris correspondent for Maariv and Yediot Ahronoth. In that period, thanks to his French passport, he even entered enemy states such as Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. He also previously served as Israel’s ambassador to Mauritania.
Ahead of the last elections he ran in the Likud primaries, placed 19th, and was slotted 27th on the party list for the Knesset.
Today he occupies one of the most sensitive positions in the country: Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He inherited the role after the Likud faction decided to remove the previous chair, MK Yuli Edelstein, after the latter effectively defied the prime minister regarding the advancement of the Draft Law.
The draft law his committee has produced, like any product of compromise, has made no one ecstatically happy. The bill has won grudging support from Degel HaTorah and Shas, which see it as the least-bad alternative, but Agudas Yisrael has said it will not approve it due to the sanctions on yeshivah students still maintained in this bill.
The law states that civilian service in units under the Prime Minister’s Office counts as service, and defines a chareidi as someone who studied in chareidi institutions for at least two years between ages 14 and 18.
From the chareidi perspective, the draft targets are tough, almost impossible to implement:
- 8,160 recruits in the first year (effectively a year and a half, until June 2027)
- 6,840 in the second year
- 7,920 in the third
- and no fewer than 8,500 in the fourth.
- From the fifth year onward, according to the law, 50 percent of each annual chareidi graduate cohort will be drafted.
Chareidi MKs find it hard to see how they could support a law with such high targets, yet they understand that after the war, alternatives are minimal. The opposition, on the other hand, quickly labeled the law a “conscript escape law,” claiming it would exempt tens of thousands of chareidi youth from military service.
Bismuth has nevertheless strongly defended the bill and brushed off demands that sanctions against yeshivah students be strengthened.
What motivated you to step into this role — chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee — at the moment this bill came up for debate? It’s like you came in and deliberately set foot on the third rail of Israeli politics.
I view this as a historic challenge. A true mission. Why do I call it a mission? Because I am required to deal with the two values I believe in most: the existence of an army to defend the people of Israel, and the continuation of the Torah world, which is why we are all here.
I believe in protecting the Torah students and the Torah world. To preserve that social fabric, which we call Israeli society, you have to come from a place of love.
That is a very noble sentiment. But many of the people pushing the draft of yeshivah students are coming from a different place. How do you expect your approach to work?
I love the chareidi world, and I love the army, and that is why I approach it this way. This week, I presented the law to the committee. Some expected an all-out war in the committee, but I don’t allow it to play out that way. I respect. I respect the opposition, I respect the coalition, both those who accuse me and those who support me.
I can tell you that I had meetings far from the public eye with very significant figures in the chareidi world, including great rabbis and rebbes who sent their sons to present their principles. I have never revealed who I met, and I will not, but I can say I heard everyone who wanted to be heard.
