Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Tuesday that controversial legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service will be shelved for now, citing the soaring costs of Israel’s war with Iran.
According to Smotrich, progress on the controversial Haredi draft exemption bill and other proposed reforms will be put on hold during the war "for unity".
He added that the government would move swiftly to pass the national budget, focusing on allocating tens of billions of shekels in additional funding for defence to support Israel’s joint military offensive with the United States against Iran, which began at the end of February.
Netanyahu said the conflict, now in its 12th day, requires a significantly expanded wartime budget to sustain the military campaign. He argued that Israel is "in a battle with a cruel enemy that seeks to destroy us".
According to Israeli media reports, government officials convened via video conference due to the war to approve amendments to the budget. Ministers were reportedly summoned individually and instructed to arrive without aides or staff.
The decision has drawn support from several opposition figures, including opposition leader Yair Lapid and former prime minister Naftali Bennett, both of whom welcomed the shelving of the Haredi draft exemption legislation.
In a statement, Lapid said: "For many months we thwarted every attempt to advance the law in the Knesset.” He added: "Tonight Netanyahu and Smotrich admitted what we have long said — the disgraceful law has failed."
Bennett likewise said critics of the bill had "won big" following the government’s announcement, adding: "The people of Israel: one. The Netanyahu government and the Haredim: zero."
Alongside Israel’s nearly three-year war on Gaza and the fragile ceasefire reached with Hamas last October, Netanyahu’s governing coalition has also faced internal divisions over demands from ultra-Orthodox parties to exempt Jewish seminary students from compulsory military service.
Israel’s High Court previously ruled that the decades-long blanket exemption traditionally granted to full-time Haredi yeshiva students was illegal. However, Haredi leaders have continued to push for legislation that would keep their constituency out of military service.
The proposed law has drawn widespread criticism within Israel, with opponents arguing that it is primarily a political concession to ultra-Orthodox coalition partners and would do little to enforce conscription.
Critics have also pointed to plans to direct millions of shekels in funding to ultra-Orthodox institutions as part of the proposal.
The decision to delay the draft exemption bill while sharply increasing defence spending to fund the war with Iran- Israel’s second military campaign against Tehran in less than a year- comes amid strong domestic backing for the operation.
A poll published by the Israel Democracy Institute found that a large majority of Jewish Israelis support the joint US-Israel campaign launched on 28 February, with most Israeli politicians also backing the offensive.
However, several anti-war activist groups have criticised the surge in national support for the strikes on Tehran.
Small demonstrations have taken place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa since the war began, with protesters accusing Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump of pursuing the campaign for geopolitical reasons.
Activists have also voiced opposition to Israel’s previous military operations and its ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories.