Ofer Winter, chairman of the Amcha Yisrael party and a retired IDF brigadier general, announced Wednesday that passage of a Chareidi draft law will be a firm condition for his party to join Israel’s next government — a position that appears to mark a significant shift from repeated statements he made over the past year opposing coercive legislation and insisting that Chareidim could be brought into the IDF without a new law.
“We will not join a government that does not pass, before its formation, a law that puts an end to draft evasion and requires everyone to report and contribute,” Winter declared Wednesday evening. “Without that, we will not sit in the government. Period.”
Yet in May 2025, while discussing how the IDF could attract Chareidi recruits, Winter explicitly argued that legislation was unnecessary. Instead, he said the military should establish units designed to accommodate the religious requirements of Chareidi soldiers.
“Establish kosher units, insist that they be suitable for the Chareidi public, and you will see that no law is needed. They will come on their own,” Winter said.
At the time, Winter also warned against transforming the Chareidi draft controversy into a political battle, arguing that doing so would make successful recruitment even less likely.
“Every time this issue comes up again in political discourse — and this is another thing I have learned — there will be no Chareidi enlistment. Do you know why? In Judaism, this is called decrees of religious persecution.”
Winter’s proposed approach at the time centered on creating military frameworks tailored to Chareidi needs and rebuilding trust with the community rather than attempting to force enlistment through legislation.
That was not an isolated statement. About six weeks earlier, in March 2025, Winter had spoken out explicitly against compulsory Chareidi enlistment.
“You don’t carry out judicial reform by force, and you don’t draft Chareidim by force,” he said.
Winter added that elected officials have a responsibility “to find solutions and work things out, rather than bring us to a civil war.”
Even as Winter moved closer to formally entering politics, he continued expressing similar views. During a private gathering in June, he said the IDF itself bore some responsibility for its failure to successfully integrate Chareidim into the military.
“The army failed in integrating Chareidim because it violated the rules we established, and the trust was broken,” Winter said.
He nevertheless predicted that large numbers of Chareidim would ultimately serve, saying, “Masses of Chareidim will come to the army; it will happen through love and trust.”
Winter sharpened his criticism of legislation addressing the issue in July. Discussing both the Basic Law on Torah Study and the draft law, he said that “all this legislation is offside when compared with the reality we face.”
He also warned that coercion would backfire.
“If you force it, you will get the opposite result. And the same goes for this draft-dodger law. What happened to us?”
Winter’s strongest criticism of the political handling of the Chareidi draft issue came just three weeks ago. On Aug. 13, with the approaching election already looming over Israeli politics, Winter sharply attacked politicians who had made Chareidi enlistment a central political issue.
“All those who have been in politics over the last 20 years, and those who were politicians in uniform over the last decade — how many Chareidim did you bring into the IDF during all the years that you have been fighting over who will bring in more?” Winter asked. “What have you done, other than trying to rake in political capital on the back of the people of Israel while producing zero results and zero solutions?”
At the time, Winter insisted that successful Chareidi recruitment would come through direct engagement and trust-building rather than political rhetoric.
“Chareidi enlistment and their integration into the IDF will not be accomplished through populism, but through hard work and building trust. Through working with the Chareidi public itself,” he said.
Winter concluded with an especially pointed dismissal of the political debate: “Come on, enough with all this false populism.”
Less than three weeks later, however, Winter has now made passage of a draft law an explicit political prerequisite for joining Israel’s next coalition. The politician who previously maintained that “no law is needed,” warned that coercion would produce the opposite result and accused politicians of exploiting Chareidi enlistment for political gain is now declaring that his party will refuse to enter a government unless such legislation is passed.
{Matzav.com}
