PM Netanyahu & Smotrich visit ultra-Orthodox brigade, praise soldiers' service amid upheaval over Haredi Draft law

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday visited the training base of the IDF’s new, ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade, where they praised the brigade as a model for the integration of Haredi soldiers into military service. 

During their tour of the training base in the Jordan Valley, Netanyahu and Smotrich met with soldiers and commanders in the brigade and received a briefing on the brigade’s operations, including its deployment to Gaza for combat operations. 

The Hasmonean brigade is the first fully Haredi brigade dedicated to maintaining a fully Haredi lifestyle, allowing the soldiers to serve in the military without violating their religious identity. 

In a statement, Netanyahu said, “We are here at the Hasmonean Brigade in the Jordan Valley, the IDF's first Haredi brigade. I have now met with both the commanders and the soldiers, and it is uplifting.” 

“You see young Haredi men who come here, enlist, and become excellent fighters,” the prime minister continued. “They have already been to Gaza and fought with distinction. Sadly, some of their friends in the Netzah Yehuda battalion fell in battle last week.” 

The Netzah Yehuda battalion is the first Haredi battalion, created in 1999 to enable ultra-Orthodox men to enlist and serve in the IDF while still keeping a religiously observant lifestyle.

The Netzah Yehuda battalion is part of the Nahal Brigade and also includes soldiers from the Religious Zionist community, particularly from among the settler population. 

“They come in as Haredi and they come out as Haredi,” Netanyahu said. “They aren't coming under coercion, but willingly, and that willingness is widespread among the haredi public.” 

“We can lead a process, not one of confrontation and infighting, but rather a mobilization of all the forces in Jewish society in order to secure our state, defend our people, and also preserve the world of the Torah,” Netanyahu stated. 

While at the base, the prime minister commented on the ongoing clashes in Syria, stating, “We will not allow a return to the situation where a second Lebanon is being established there, and we also have an obligation to safeguard the Druze locals.” 

Finance Minister Smotrich praised the Hasmonean Brigade as “first-class brave fighters” and an example of the ultra-Orthodox community’s willingness to serve in a unit that protects their values. 

“We are determined to bring about, God willing, the enlistment of many thousands of Haredi men, building trust through a determined and comprehensive process,” Smotrich said. 

The visit came as Netanyahu’s coalition government is facing pressure following the departure of the United Torah Judaism bloc on Tuesday, and the announcement by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from the government.

However, unlike UTJ, Shas is currently remaining in the coalition, where UTJ members have said they might be willing to vote to collapse the government, depending on the ruling of its Council of Torah Sages.