MK Davidson Urges Haredi Youth in Knesset Gallery to Enlist in IDF

During a Knesset plenary session on Monday discussing the Basic Law proposal on Torah study, MK Simon Davidson (Yahad) delivered a forceful speech directly addressing a group of young Haredi men seated in the visitors' gallery. Davidson sharply criticized the exemption of yeshiva students from military service and urged them to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He asked them pointedly if they intended to serve, saying, "Have you heard of this thing called enlistment? Are you enlisting? I ask, yes or no? While you sit here looking at us like monkeys in a zoo, at your age others are going to the army, carrying weapons and helmets, and fighting."

Davidson compared the young men in the gallery to IDF soldiers and reservists, emphasizing the sacrifices made by those serving. "Every day I see dozens of soldiers coming to enjoy the Knesset, while my children and theirs are serving, fighting, and losing friends. I'm tired of seeing you here, wandering like in a circus. Go serve in the army," he said. He highlighted the heavy toll on reservists and their families, mentioning losses in business and sleepless nights worrying about children deployed in Lebanon.

To illustrate, Davidson recounted a story about his friend Eli Orgad, whose son serves in Lebanon and suffered partial facial paralysis after a mistaken phone call at 2 a.m. He warned that advancing the proposed law could increase exemptions, saying, "Once this law passes, and there is no military police enforcement, they will say ‘whatever,’ and more will avoid service. What do they care if their children risk their lives?"

Concluding his passionate address, Davidson apologized for raising his voice but stressed the importance of Haredi integration into Israeli society through military service. "You must be part of the State of Israel, part of carrying the stretcher. Enlist in the army; it won't make you less religious, it will make you better citizens to the country, your brothers, and your families," he urged.