Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich does not want his daughter to serve in the IDF, he said Monday.
“I will educate my daughter not to enlist in the army,” the chairman of the Religious Zionist Party (RZP) said during his party’s press conference in the Knesset.
“I respect anyone who thinks differently from me. This is the ruling of my rabbis, and I hope the liberals will respect my position. Mixing men and women in tanks is, in my view, delusional.”
Smotrich also discussed efforts to lower the cost of living in Israel and combat monopolies to strengthen the economy.
In recent months, the government has been fast-tracking a controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription bill. A haredi protest in Bnei Brak on Sunday against serving in the IDF turned violent. Two female soldiers were attacked by a haredi mob before being rescued by police.
“We cannot continue like this,” Smotrich said. “We must, simply must, pass a draft law that will truly lead to the enlistment of our haredi brothers and their integration into bearing the burden of security and national existence.”
Critics of the draft bill say its current version fails to enforce haredi conscription and instead aims to appease the haredi parties in the Knesset.
The IDF has repeatedly said there is an urgent need for additional manpower, especially after more than two years of war.
Smotrich has not said whether he would support the bill in its current form. His indirect stance, however, has led to speculation that he might vote in favor.
Developments with the haredi draft bill have also become intertwined with the government’s passage of the 2026 state budget. The haredi parties have threatened to vote against the budget unless progress is made on the draft bill.
Smotrich said the draft bill and the state budget should not be linked.
Support from Religious Zionist Party MKs is considered crucial to whether the bill can pass its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum and become law.
Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer (RZP), a growing number of coalition MKs, and opposition MKs have strongly criticized the current draft bill’s outline.
Avraham Bloch contributed to this report.