Almost all bills removed from Knesset agenda as Haredi boycott enters second week

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri warns that unless law benefiting yeshiva students and draft evaders is passed, ‘we will not support any coalition legislation’

Nearly all bills were removed from the Knesset plenum’s agenda on Monday as the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties’ boycott of coalition legislation entered its second week.

The boycott was initially prompted by the coalition’s refusal to advance to a plenum vote the so-called Daycare Law, which would restore daycare subsidies for the children of draft evaders, but has since grown to encompass other Haredi conscription-related demands.

“The violent arrests of Torah students must stop! We informed the coalition chairman that as long as the law to stop arrests and the Basic Law on Torah study are not advanced, we will not support any coalition legislation,” Shas chairman Aryeh Deri told party lawmakers during their weekly faction meeting on Monday afternoon.

The only bills remaining on Monday’s agenda were the extension of a temporary order regulating Israel’s imprisonment of illegal combatants captured during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre and a government bill expanding the power of the police to conduct searches.

No other bills, including major coalition priorities, were set to be discussed, although lawmakers will vote to ratify the Knesset House Committee’s decision to take over deliberations on a controversial proposed Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel.

The continuation of the boycott appears to signal at least a temporary halt to the coalition’s ongoing legislative blitz, which has seen lawmakers attempt to split up the role of the attorney general, establish a political commission of inquiry into October 7, and give the government significant control over the media before the upcoming pre-election Knesset recess.

Passing these bills has become especially urgent for the coalition because it has only weeks to go before the pre-election parliamentary recess, which a coalition source recently told The Times of Israel will probably begin on July 16.

Haredi legislators, who began the process of dissolving the Knesset in May over the coalition’s failure to pass a controversial law restoring yeshiva students’ draft exemptions, have since pushed for the passage of legislation declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel, restoring daycare subsidies to the children of draft dodgers, and halting the arrests of evaders.

Senior Shas and UTJ officials who spoke with the ultra-Orthodox Behadrei Haredim news site on Saturday evening said that they felt thwarted in their efforts to force the premier to advance their own agenda by holding coalition legislation hostage.

“We no longer have anything to threaten him with. The moment UTJ agreed to elections on October 20, as [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu demanded, we were left with no leverage. We are left with nothing, and now he is the one who gets to choose when to dissolve the Knesset,” the outlet quoted a Haredi official as saying.

“We failed in everything, we have nothing to present to our voters, we failed,” another Haredi political figure stated. “Netanyahu played us and played us, and we followed him like a blind goat.”

Over the weekend, Channel 12 reported that coalition officials have been pushing Netanyahu to dissolve the Knesset this week in order to block these initiatives from advancing in the Knesset because widespread public opposition to the measures could damage the coalition.

According to the network, Netanyahu has not yet made up his mind on whether to push through the dissolution and hold elections on October 20 instead of October 27, which is the final date by which they must be held.

Most coalition party leaders support such a move given the intense public opposition to the bills, the report said.

Basic Law: Torah Study

On Monday morning, following a request from Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism), the Knesset House Committee voted to take over deliberations on the legislation that would enshrine Torah study as a foundational state value.

The move sparked speculation — including by a senior Haredi political figure who spoke with The Times of Israel — that Religious Zionism is seeking to distance itself from the legislation, which is unpopular with its base, and toss the hot potato to a committee controlled by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud.

Religious Zionism largely supported the Basic Law: Torah Study, which effectively equates studying in yeshiva with military service, in its preliminary reading but has said it will not support it in later votes unless significant changes are made.

According to reports, an updated draft of the bill has removed wording referring to the benefits granted to yeshiva students and directly equating full-time Torah study to military service by referring to it as a “significant service.”

However, the Haredi parties do not believe that the wording change will make a substantive difference to their aim of passing a bill allowing yeshiva students to avoid conscription that will not be struck down by the High Court of Justice.

Asked about his motivation, Rothman replied in a WhatsApp message that “the reason is that I simply don’t have time in the committee. I am splitting [the role of the] attorney general and they are going to bring me two more Basic Laws that I don’t know how I’m going to manage.”

Sponsor Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) expressed skepticism that the bill would pass, telling lawmakers in the House Committee on Monday that he needs assurances that a committee change does not kill the legislation.

Asked about the Daycare Law and Basic Law: Torah Study during his party’s weekly faction meeting on Monday afternoon, the Religious Zionism party’s chairman, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, declined to give an unequivocal answer, stating that the coalition had failed to find a solution to the issue of Haredi enlistment, which he said “requires certain compromises.”

“There must be no rift” between the national religious community and the Haredim and “we are doing everything to preserve the national camp and preserve the right, and to ensure that it continues to lead the State of Israel for many years ahead,” Smotrich asserted.