"We will not fund a single shekel to those who don't enlist,” declared former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Maariv’s Radio 103FM on Monday.
"Currently, the IDF cannot carry out its missions because it is short 20,000 soldiers. We need to say something harsh and true: draft evasion is costing us the lives of our soldiers,” he claimed, criticizing Chairman of Religious Zionism and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s proposed plan to encourage ultra-Orthodox enlistment to the IDF.
Smotrich the 'architect of the evasion'
"This is what Smotrich did,” he said. He is largely the architect of the evasion. He was supposed to represent religious Zionism, people who give 500 or 600 days in reserve duty, and because of the alliance with Goldknopf and Deri, he simply sold them out. It’s a crime."
“They [soldiers] are being sent again and again, worn down,” he continued. “When you are worn down for such a long time, your sharpness diminishes, and in the end, there are casualties. Due to the lack of soldiers, they are forced to conquer a point but cannot stay there, so they withdraw.”
Bennett blamed Smotrich, Knesset members Yitzchak Goldknopf and Arye Deri, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the lack of religious soldiers in the IDF, calling their decisions “terrible” and claiming they put politics above the well-being of the country.
"There are 100,000 young, healthy ultra-Orthodox who could enlist. If just one-fifth of them enlist, we have solved the problem,” he said.
‘No autonomous ultra-Orthodox state’
Bennett proposed to completely halt funding, “the dozens of money channels that enable this evasion,” he said. “The era of teaching against the values of the State of Israel without math and English is over. We will no longer fund this. We will not fund a single shekel to those who don’t wear uniforms. This is costing us lives. There will be no autonomous ultra-Orthodox state within the State of Israel. It's over.”
When asked if he would win over right-wing voters, he responded that he is “received excellently” when he travels across the country. “As Prime Minister, I was much more assertive than my predecessors,” he stated. "Out of 22 mandates, about nine come from Likud and Religious Zionism. We are not in a sterile world, and certainly, there are people who are angry, and I can accept that and understand them.”
“The story is [about] who will advance draft evasion, and who will advance corruption and the transfer of billions to political operators.”
Maariv asked Bennett if he would sit in Netanyahu’s government following the elections, to which he responded, “This question is absurd.”
Additionally, he announced his intention to form what he called a “Zionist government.” If Likud members don’t want to join, then no, he said.
“I have 61 Zionist mandates, and Netanyahu has 38 Zionist mandates. What is this question?” he asked. “It's very pathetic to keep looking at this. We are going to win."
Bennett emphasized his plans to form a government to replace Netanyahu. “After more than 30 years, enough. We need to say thank you and take the country to a new page of rebuilding Israel,” he said.
When asked about the security situation over the past two and a half years, Bennett replied that he believes the country can “get out of the hole we’re in to a much better place.”
"We went through a very difficult trauma of the October 7 massacre. They didn’t promise us a garden of roses, but I am proud of our country and our amazing people, and very optimistic about our ability to thrive and succeed again," he stated.