Israeli Minister Compares Draft Enforcement on Haredim to Inquisition

Miki Zohar, Israel's Minister of Culture and Sport, has drawn a parallel between measures to draft ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF and the Spanish Inquisition. Speaking on Oct. 21 to Kan Reshet Bet radio, Zohar opposed personal sanctions against draft dodgers, stating, "I am always against the use of personal measures that harm the ultra-Orthodox, because for me it is the persecution of a community that studies Torah and believes its life should be centered on Torah study." He likened the recent arrests of draft dodgers at Ben Gurion Airport to the persecution of Jews in Spain in 1492, saying, "This reminds me of the difficult times of the Inquisition, during the expulsion from Spain, when they searched for Jews studying Torah to kill them."

When reminded by interviewers about the historical context of the Inquisition and the principle of equal law enforcement, Zohar asserted his right to express his feelings. He described the enforcement efforts as "tormenting the ultra-Orthodox, that is, persecuting them and causing them pain," questioning the purpose and stating that drafting them without the consent of their spiritual leadership would not be possible. However, Zohar conceded that young ultra-Orthodox men not dedicated to Torah study should serve, stating, "The future of the state is that every young ultra-Orthodox man who does not study Torah from morning to night should go to the army. We cannot allow fictitious lists and evasion of service."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a separate interview with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Barama the day before Zohar's remarks, called the detentions of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders "unacceptable." He noted that this assessment did not apply to secular draft dodgers. Netanyahu stated that these detentions were a "deliberate attempt to harm the process of drafting the ultra-Orthodox without coercion" and expressed a desire to pass a law exempting them from service before the current government's term ended, though he acknowledged the difficulty of achieving this without broad cooperation and understanding of the need for a "new distribution of the burden."

The IDF faces a significant personnel shortage. In May 2026, an IDF representative told the Knesset that the army was short approximately 12,000 soldiers, including 7,000 in combat units. This deficit was projected to grow to around 17,000 by January 2027. The burden on reservists has also been immense, with data from June 2026 indicating that since the start of the "Swords of Iron" war, 20% of reservists had served over 300 days in less than three years, and an additional 27% had served between 150 and 300 days.