Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth on Saturday appeared to confirm that his revised draft of a government-backed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox conscription would continue to exempt full-time yeshiva students from IDF service for the foreseeable future, and would draft only half of the eligible members of the community not engaged in full-time Talmud study, gradually, over the next five years.

Speaking with Channel 12’s “Meet The Press,” the Likud lawmaker rejected “fake” news reports regarding the contents of the bill — widely seen as intended to codify draft exemptions for much of the Haredi community, impose weak sanctions on evaders and pave the way for the ultra-Orthodox parties to return to the coalition. He said he would soon “present the final text to my colleagues on the committee.”

The “locomotive is ready to leave the station [and is] waiting for passengers,” he says. “The law is more or less ready. I am in full coordination with the prime minister. The prime minister wants this law; very much so,” he said.

Appearing to confirm hints that the bill will allow those enrolled full-time in yeshiva to continue their studies without fear of conscription for years to come, Bismuth told the network that “within five years, 50 percent of those not in yeshiva” will enlist in the army — a development which he called “huge.”

He did not specify how the military would decide which half of the Haredim not studying at yeshiva to enlist and who would be among the other 50 percent to be exempted.

Bismuth further stated that there will be an “oversight mechanism” and sanctions, and that only 10% of those mobilized will serve in national service, as opposed to military service. However, he rejected the idea of a “revolution” in Haredi enlistment, comparing it instead to the gradual increase in female combat........

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