{"schema_version":1,"citation_url":"https://567politics.com/news/israel-utj-porush-stark-yeshiva-deferral-arrest-freeze-bills-byachad-reservist-benefits-november-2026","title":"Exempt at 26, no arrests: UTJ files yeshiva draft bills as Eisenkot courts it and Bennett's party pushes back","description":"Porush and Stark want yearly deferrals, then exemption, plus a one-year arrest freeze. B'Yachad filed a reservist-benefits bill funded by cutting aid to households that neither serve nor work.","author":"567 Politics staff","publisher":"567politics","date_published":"2026-11-11T14:14:42.303582Z","date_modified":"2026-11-11T14:15:26.148208Z","body_markdown":"Two United Torah Judaism lawmakers filed bills on Wednesday, November 11, that would write draft deferrals for full-time yeshiva students into law and freeze arrests of those who have ignored call-up orders. The bills, from MKs Meir Porush and Elyakim Stark, came on the 26th Knesset's second day. The same morning, B'Yachad, a party in Gadi Eisenkot's bloc, filed a bill that would expand benefits for reservists and pay for them by cutting funds to households that neither serve nor work.\n\n![Officers at a 2018 change-of-command ceremony for the IDF directorate that handles Haredi enlistment.](https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/b4c45747-37c4-447f-9b63-f55441f9f1a9/3f0ed206d029fa70079ef97f37760f6f.jpg)\n\nThe two filings set out the gap at the center of Israel's coalition talks. Eisenkot needs 61 seats. His bloc has 48. The Haredi parties hold 13. UTJ says a draft arrangement for yeshiva students is its first condition for joining any government. Eisenkot says he will not give up on \"service for all.\" The Times of Israel reported that none of the new bills appears to have a clear path to passage.\n\n## What the UTJ bills would do\n\nThe Jerusalem Post and Arutz Sheva both described the two bills from Porush's office. They are laid out in the table below.\n\n| Feature | Deferral bill | Arrest freeze bill |\n|---|---|---|\n| Type | Permanent law | One-year temporary measure |\n| Who qualifies | Yeshiva students studying 45 hours a week; kollel students 40 hours | Same study test, plus no other job |\n| Main effect | Yearly deferrals until age 26, then full exemption | No arrests, probes or criminal cases |\n| Look-back | Halts cases and judgments for past eligible students | Covers those due to report on or after July 1, 2023 |\n\nUnder the first bill, the defense minister could grant a service deferral to a yeshiva student who studies at least 45 hours a week. A married student in a kollel would need 40 hours a week. Each deferral would last up to one year. It could be renewed until the student turns 26. At that age, the minister would grant a full exemption.\n\nThe bill also reaches back in time, according to the [Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-914553). A student who met the study test before the law took effect would not be charged for failing to report. If a case had already begun, or a judgment had been issued, the case or its enforcement would stop at once. Students could also apply for a deferral even if they had not finished registration while no legal framework was in force.\n\nThe Jerusalem Post called the second bill the \"Arrest Suspension Law.\" [Arutz Sheva](https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/436007) called it the \"Arrest Freeze Bill.\" The bill would bar the authorities from opening cases under the Defense Service Law or the Military Justice Law against yeshiva students who were due to report on or after July 1, 2023. To qualify, a student would declare that he studies the required hours and holds no other job. The bill would last one year, or until a full law is passed.\n\n## How the sponsors make their case\n\nThe explanatory notes describe the moment as a \"Jewish and social emergency,\" according to the Jerusalem Post. The sponsors argue that the current legal situation has fed unrest and deepened divisions in Israeli society. They say a pause in enforcement would ease tensions while lawmakers work on a permanent arrangement.\n\nThe notes also argue that arrangements for yeshiva students have been part of Israel's system since the state was founded. The sponsors want the law to recognize Torah study as a central value. They say the state has a moral and historical duty to let those who wish to devote their lives to Torah study keep that way of life.\n\nPorush's office said it filed both bills at the opening of the new Knesset to put the status of yeshiva students at the top of the agenda. It said the aim is to remove the threat of arrest and sanctions so students can continue their studies.\n\n## B'Yachad's rival bill\n\n[Naftali Bennett](/politicians/naftali-bennett)'s B'Yachad filed its own bill the same morning, the [Times of Israel reported](https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/byachad-submits-bill-to-expand-benefits-for-soldiers-and-reservists-as-utj-moves-to-cement-yeshiva-students-draft-exemptions/). It would give active reservists NIS 4,000 (about $1,262) a month toward childcare. It would cut their utility bills, municipal taxes, public transport fares and government fees in half. It would offer discounts on a first home. It would also give free tuition to discharged combat soldiers and half-price tuition to other discharged soldiers.\n\nB'Yachad says the money would come from changing eligibility rules and halting funds now granted to \"households that do not participate in military service or the workforce.\" The Times of Israel described that phrase as a reference to Haredi yeshiva students.\n\nThe Times of Israel said the two bills show a \"stark contrast in priorities\" between parties that are reported to be possible coalition partners. Eisenkot's bloc could in theory muster a majority for a bill that rewards service. But it is also trying to win over the Haredi parties, for whom draft exemptions are a central demand. UTJ's bills, for their part, lack majority support in the new Knesset.\n\n## The numbers behind the dispute\n\nThe bills land amid a sharp rise in the number of people the army lists as draft evaders. IDF figures obtained by Ynet through a freedom of information request show the count rising from about 7,000 in 2023 to 76,809 so far in 2026. The request was filed by the civic group Israel Hofsheet and the Movement for Freedom of Information. [Ynet published the data](https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rjj00e77hzx) on October 19.\n\n```chart\ntype: column\ntitle: People classified as draft evaders by the IDF, by year\nsource: [Ynet, IDF data released under freedom of information, October 19, 2026](https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rjj00e77hzx)\nnote: The 2023 figure is approximate as reported. The 2026 figure covers the year to mid-October. Figures include all groups, not only Haredi men.\n---\nYear | Classified as draft evaders\n2023 | 7,000\n2024 | 14,467\n2025 | 55,594\n2026 (to Oct.) | 76,809\n```\n\nArrests did not keep pace. The same data show 674 arrests for draft evasion in 2023, 490 in 2024, 519 in 2025 and 437 so far in 2026.\n\n```chart\ntype: column\ntitle: Arrests for draft evasion, by year\nsource: [Ynet, IDF data released under freedom of information, October 19, 2026](https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rjj00e77hzx)\nnote: The 2026 figure covers the year to mid-October.\n---\nYear | Arrests\n2023 | 674\n2024 | 490\n2025 | 519\n2026 (to Oct.) | 437\n```\n\nYnet reported that Haredi men make up about 83% of those classified as draft evaders but only 12% of those indicted in 2026. There were 360 indictments this year through October, against 442 in all of 2025. One reason is the legal threshold. A criminal charge can be filed only after 540 days have passed since a person failed to report. Mass call-ups of Haredi men began after a 2024 High Court ruling, so many are only now reaching that point.\n\n[Arutz Sheva reported on October 20](https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434882) that about 80,000 to 90,000 young Haredi men have received draft orders. Around 64,000 of them have ignored three summonses and are classified as deserters. The army is weighing a cut in the prosecution threshold from 540 days to 365 days. That would expose more men to prison terms of three to six months.\n\nThe state's own court filing gives a wider count. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the High Court on October 22 that 110,330 people had been classified as draft evaders or issued orders to enlist as of September 8, the [Jerusalem Post reported](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/crime-in-israel/article-912605). Military officials estimated that about four-fifths were Haredi. That count is broader than Ynet's. It includes both people formally classified as evaders and people ordered to enlist who had not finished early steps.\n\nThe same filing reported a rise in Haredi enlistment. About 4,298 Haredi men enlisted in the recruitment year from July 2025 through June 2026, up from 2,811 the year before. The state credited wider service options and stronger enforcement, including economic measures. It said recruitment was still far below the army's needs.\n\n## The enforcement fight\n\nThe UTJ bills would halt enforcement that critics already call too weak. In November 2025, the High Court ordered the government to set an \"effective, equal, and proportionate\" enforcement policy within 45 days, the Jerusalem Post reported. The attorney general's filing said the government still had not adopted one, despite a January 4 deadline. It also said no planned enforcement operations took place between July 1 and October 12, though some individual arrests and border-crossing checks went on.\n\nThe attorney general asked the court to consider letting ministries tie property-tax and public transport discounts to draft compliance. The filing described those steps as incentives to enlist, not penalties.\n\nAdvocacy groups say the army is not applying the law equally. \"The blatant selective enforcement proves that, faced with ultra-Orthodox violence, the IDF and the Israeli government have tucked their tails between their legs,\" Israel Hofsheet's executive director, Uri Keidar, told Ynet. Dan Rosenthal of the Movement for Freedom of Information said the data showed \"the IDF is discriminating and not enforcing the law equally.\"\n\nThe army rejected that charge. \"Enforcement against suspects in draft evasion offenses is carried out equally, without distinction between different populations,\" the IDF said in a statement to Ynet. It said dozens of draft evaders and deserters had been arrested in recent weeks. The Israel Police said arrests are the military police's job, with police in a supporting role.\n\n## What it means for coalition talks\n\nThe bills put UTJ's demand on paper at the moment Eisenkot is courting the party. On Tuesday, UTJ leader [Yaakov Asher](/politicians/yaakov-asher) said a draft arrangement for yeshiva students must be \"worked out.\" \"Without that there won't be anything,\" he told Kikar HaShabbat, as reported by the [Times of Israel](https://www.timesofisrael.com/eisenkot-vows-not-to-fold-on-service-for-all-as-potential-utj-allies-insist-on-draft-exemptions/). He also demanded that funding for Haredi schools stay untouched and that the religious status quo be kept.\n\n[Gadi Eisenkot](/politicians/gadi-eisenkot), who holds the mandate to form a government, said the same day that he would not drop his commitment to \"service for all — for all Israeli citizens. Military service, national service, civilian service. We will not fold that flag.\"\n\n[Avigdor Liberman](/politicians/avigdor-liberman), whose Yisrael Beytenu party is in Eisenkot's bloc, has shifted his tone. \"We talked about… conscription for everyone. Today it's clear that we'll have to go with a different model… a conscription law that survives the High Court test,\" he said on Tuesday. He said the challenge would be to find a formula that satisfies both the court and UTJ's spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Lando.\n\nBennett has said his party is working to help Eisenkot build a \"Zionist government of repair.\" The Times of Israel reported that he tied the change of government to relief for overburdened reservists. That suggests opposition to Haredi demands for continued exemptions.\n\n[Shas](/parties/israel/shas), the other Haredi party, has stayed with Netanyahu. It said its rabbinic council told its lawmakers to recommend him \"after he committed to passing a law regulating yeshiva students.\" The Haredi coalition math is set out in [567 Politics' look at the Haredi path to 61 seats](/news/israel-eisenkot-haredi-parties-utj-shas-draft-deal-61-seats-november-2026). UTJ's refusal to back Netanyahu is covered in [an earlier report](/news/israel-utj-holds-out-shas-religious-zionism-otzma-recommend-netanyahu-november-2026).\n\n## What is still unknown\n\nThe reports did not say when either bill might come up for a preliminary vote. A private member's bill needs a plenum majority to advance. UTJ has seven seats. Shas has six. Even with the full Netanyahu bloc of 53 seats behind it, UTJ would fall short of 61 unless parties in Eisenkot's bloc changed course.\n\nIt is also not clear how the bills fit with UTJ's talks with Eisenkot. Asher has called his demands nonnegotiable. Liberman has said a deal must pass the High Court. The reports on the bills did not explain how an exemption at 26 and a retroactive halt to prosecutions would meet the court's 2024 ruling and its 2025 order on enforcement. No court has ruled on these bills.\n\nParty positions on religion and state are mapped on the [Israel political spectrum](/political-spectrum?country=israel). Profiles of [United Torah Judaism](/parties/israel/united-torah-judaism) and [Yashar](/parties/israel/yashar) give more background on the two sides of the talks.\n\n## Sources\n\n- Jerusalem Post, \"Haredi MKs propose exempting haredi yeshiva students from IDF service at 26, halting arrests,\" by Avi Solomon, November 11, 2026: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-914553\n- Arutz Sheva (Israel National News), \"Porush demands freeze on arrests of deserters,\" November 11, 2026: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/436007\n- Times of Israel, \"B'Yachad submits bill to expand benefits for soldiers and reservists, as UTJ moves to cement yeshiva students' draft exemptions,\" by Ariela Karmel, November 11, 2026: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/byachad-submits-bill-to-expand-benefits-for-soldiers-and-reservists-as-utj-moves-to-cement-yeshiva-students-draft-exemptions/\n- Times of Israel, \"Eisenkot vows not to fold on service for all, as potential UTJ allies insist on draft exemptions,\" November 10, 2026: https://www.timesofisrael.com/eisenkot-vows-not-to-fold-on-service-for-all-as-potential-utj-allies-insist-on-draft-exemptions/\n- Ynet, \"76,809 draft dodgers, just 437 arrests: IDF data expose Israel's widening enforcement gap,\" by Shilo Freid, October 19, 2026: https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/rjj00e77hzx\n- Jerusalem Post, \"Attorney-General urges High Court to impose further restrictions on haredi draft evaders,\" by Sarah Ben-Nun, October 22, 2026: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/crime-in-israel/article-912605\n- Arutz Sheva (Israel National News), \"64,000 haredi draft dodgers could face tougher penalties,\" October 20, 2026: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/434882","link_base":"https://567politics.com/news/israel-utj-porush-stark-yeshiva-deferral-arrest-freeze-bills-byachad-reservist-benefits-november-2026","citation_guidance":"Cite citation_url. 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