Bennett Unveils Sweeping Plan to Reward IDF Reservists and Cut Draft Funding

Naftali Bennett has unveiled a sweeping political platform aimed at overhauling Israel's socioeconomic and military service landscape, centering on what he calls the "servicemen's revolution." Speaking against the backdrop of an ongoing personnel shortage in the IDF—estimated at 20,000 soldiers—Bennett proposed a 30 billion shekel reallocation package designed to heavily reward military reservists while stripping state funding from draft evaders and non-working citizens.

Life-Changing Benefits for Reservists

At the core of Bennett's plan is a robust suite of financial incentives targeting the heaviest financial burdens facing Israeli families. Under the proposal, active reservists would receive up to one million shekels toward purchasing their first apartment, alongside a monthly subsidy of 4,000 shekels per child for daycare from birth to age three. Furthermore, participating reservists would be granted a 50 percent discount on municipal property taxes, electricity, water, public transportation, and government administrative fees.

"How did we reach a situation where a person goes out for his six hundredth day of reserve duty, leaves his children again, closes his business again—and then returns home to a state that takes from his tax money and pays evaders?" Bennett asked during his address.

Closing the Funding Spigots

To finance the sweeping measures, Bennett insisted that the required funds already exist within the state budget and simply require a redirection of priorities. He pledged to dismantle what he termed the dozens of bureaucratic channels established by ultra-Orthodox political leaders to funnel state funds into exemptions and stipends. By eliminating kollel stipends for full-time religious scholars and halting conditional transfer payments, Bennett aims to generate the tens of billions of shekels needed to fund the new social contract.

Simultaneously, Bennett outlined strict conditions for state support across broader society. Under his proposed framework, individuals who do not serve in the military or national service, those who refuse to work, and families who decline to enroll their children in the state-run educational system would be entirely cut off from government subsidies. Addressing the issue of military enlistment quotas, Bennett rejected partial exemptions outright, calling for a zero-tolerance policy regarding military service drafts.