Right-wing minister critical of Haredi draft exemption efforts says won’t seek reelection

Religious Zionism’s Ofir Sofer said leaving politics over coalition’s efforts to okay exemptions for Yeshiva students, day after Knesset passed law to halt arrests of draft evaders

Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer from the far-right Religious Zionism party announced on Wednesday that he will not run in the upcoming parliamentary election, in an apparent split with his party over its support for legislation to exempt ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service.

“The State of Israel must continue to fortify its security, and erect a solid, cast-iron wall, but also one that is based on values and unity,” he said in a statement.

Hebrew media reports said Sofer’s decision was the result of his intense disagreement with the coalition’s recent efforts to authorize draft exemptions for Haredim.

“The bereaved and those wounded in war will carry with them scars that will not heal quickly,” Sofer wrote. “These will remind us all, every day, of the great responsibility and commitment to the right path.”

“The citizens of Israel have a duty to demand a discourse of unity, solidarity, and true partnership in the sacred and critical mission of protecting the security of the state,” he added.

Sofer has served in the Knesset since 2019.

In a post on X, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, chair of Religious Zionism, said he had accepted Sofer’s resignation, praising him for his years of work and his “pleasant and unique political style,” and calling him a “hero of Israel in the army and in civilian life.”

Sofer’s departure came a day after the Knesset approved a controversial coalition-backed law temporarily banning the arrest and prosecution of ultra-Orthodox men evading military service, and thereby legitimizing continued mass Haredi non-enlistment.

The High Court of Justice temporarily froze the implementation of the law on Wednesday, ordering a hearing be held on the legislation as soon as possible.

Sofer is one of several coalition MKs who have opposed military exemptions for Yeshiva students, stating earlier this year that “the right will be crushed” in the next elections if it advances such an initiative.

Sofer and fellow party member Michal Woldiger were absent from Tuesday’s vote, while several other coalition lawmakers broke ranks to outright oppose the contentious law, including Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon and Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein and Dan Illouz, both of whom recently announced they were leaving the party over the issue.

New Hope’s Sharren Haskel also voted against the bill and resigned her position as deputy foreign minister in protest after the vote.

Haskel accused the government of advancing “mass Haredi draft evasion” while “trampling the principle of equality in bearing the burden.”

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, accused the coalition of abandoning the Israel Defense Forces in the midst of a multifront war, despite repeated military warnings of a severe manpower shortage.

The law has also drawn fierce opposition from reservists, Knesset legal advisers, and much of the public.

The Haredi legislative push comes after the High Court ruled unanimously in 2024 that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.