MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home) said Thursday that it is a mitzvah to enlist in the IDF. His statement comes against a backdrop of tension between the secular left and the hareidi population, because of the leftists’ intention of forcing more hareidim to enlist to the IDF without making the IDF more hareidi-friendly.

Speaking at a study day for graduates of the pre-military academies, Orlev said: “As a person who observes the Torah and mitzvoth, a graduate of a hesder yeshiva, I am riled by the use of the mitzvah of studying Torah as an excuse for dodging the mitzvah of serving in the IDF.”

“He who studies Torah and observes mitzvot should and must know, observe and carry out the select mitzvah of defending the existence of the Jewish state.”

“The most senior religious Zionist rabbis, who are important dayanim, heads of important yeshivot, rabbis of big cities, are the living proof that studying Torah and serving in the IDF are two intertwined mitzvot.”