Knesset advances Basic Law on Torah study, pushes to freeze arrests of draft dodgers

Bill heads to first Knesset vote as government pushes parallel measure halting enforcement despite IDF warning that enforcement boosts enlistment

The Knesset House Committee voted 10-4 to advance for its first Knesset reading a proposed Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel, subject to a vote on several revisions, following a heated debate.

The bill forms part of the Haredi parties’ broader legislative push to preserve mass exemptions for yeshiva students from military service by elevating the status of Torah study, which includes a parallel measure to shield current draft evaders from criminal enforcement.

The proposed basic law is expected to have its first plenum vote on Wednesday, with the coalition aiming to pass it into law before the Knesset is expected to begin its pre-election recess in the coming weeks.

Promoted by the ultra-Orthodox parties, the legislation is intended to shield draft evaders from sanctions and prosecution. Absent a constitution, Basic Laws in Israel have the highest legal status in the country.

“Torah study is what has preserved us throughout the entire history of the Jewish people, and now, in the Jewish state as well, Torah study will receive the status it deserves,” said United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, a co-sponsor of the legislation, celebrating its advancement.

UTJ chair Yitzhak Goldknopf said during the committee meeting that the bill is needed because “Jews are arresting Jews for studying Torah” and claims that yeshiva students are being treated like “thieves” and “Hamas terrorists.”

Deputy Attorney General Avital Sompolinsky sharply criticized the measure, arguing that it contains too many unresolved constitutional questions to proceed to a first reading, after the coalition rushed it through several marathon committee sessions this week.

“It’s impossible to move to a first reading before answering the question of what the purpose of the law is,” she said.

Sompolinsky argued that if, as the bill’s sponsors have indicated, it is intended to address the status of the ultra-Orthodox in Israeli society, then it requires a broader discussion of “rights and obligations,” but that “the bill as currently drafted does not answer” these fundamental questions.

Opposition lawmakers roundly denounced the legislation as a political maneuver to circumvent High Court rulings invalidating blanket exemptions from military service.

“This is a cynical attempt to rush through a Basic Law that would grant Torah scholars a special status,” said Yesh Atid MK Moshe Turpaz, who was ejected from the committee discussion by committee chair Likud MK Ofir Katz.

Calling it “the most dangerous” bill currently advancing in the Knesset, Turpaz accuses its sponsors of “distorting justice” and “diminishing the status of combat soldiers and all other citizens of Israel.”

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman called the proposal “Basic Law: Desecration of God’s Name,” pledging to “repeal all of these illegitimate laws” if a new government is formed after the October election.

Panel debates freezing draft dodger arrests

Simultaneously, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee began debating a temporary order to freeze for 90 days arrests, investigations, and other enforcement measures against full-time yeshiva students eligible for military service, a parallel measure that the Haredi parties have been lobbying for.

Bismuth defended the controversial bill, calling it “a tourniquet” aimed at stopping “a dangerous deterioration” in relations between the Haredi community and the larger public.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs insisted that the proposal does not alter the legal obligation to enlist or the implications of last year’s High Court ruling ending blanket exemptions for yeshiva students, but merely suspends “criminal proceedings, and only temporarily.”

He warned that if enforcement is perceived by the ultra-Orthodox public as “the persecution of an entire community,” it could “turn the whole ultra-Orthodox public into the Jerusalem Faction,” referring to the hardline anti-draft Haredi sect.

However, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division issued a blunt rebuke of the measure, directly contradicting the government’s argument that enforcement discourages Haredi enlistment.

“The temporary order, in and of itself, will not help me,” Tayeb said, arguing that the measure “doesn’t fulfill its purpose and also endangers some of the things we have achieved.”

Appearing before the committee, Tayeb told lawmakers that enforcement measures, “including arrests,” are “part of our ability to implement the Security Service Law” and have contributed to a steady increase in Haredi enlistment since the war began.

According to Tayeb, the number of Haredi recruits has risen from roughly 1,800 in 2024 to an estimated 3,500 this past year. He attributed this increase partly to accessible service tracks that allow Haredi soldiers to “maintain an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle,” such as the Hasmonean Brigade, but also to enforcement measures.

Citing IDF research, he said around 60% of those arrested report for military service ultimately, while the prospect of enforcement has prompted many others to voluntarily regularize their status before facing sanctions.

He warned that “the scale of draft evasion and non-cooperation is unprecedented. The numbers are rising dramatically. We are on our way to reaching 90,000 draft evaders.”

The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits, while some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service but have not enlisted.

Meanwhile, in a legal opinion submitted to lawmakers on Monday, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s legal adviser warned that the temporary order goes far beyond freezing arrests, that the proposal amounts to a “mini draft law,” serves as an “amnesty clause” for both current and future yeshiva students in place of comprehensive enlistment legislation, and creates broad exemptions without a functioning oversight mechanism.

The legislative push came after a series of mass Haredi demonstrations over the arrests of draft dodgers, who have blocked traffic and targeted police and judges in recent weeks.

It also follows reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached an agreement with Shas and United Torah Judaism to advance key Haredi legislative priorities in exchange for supporting coalition initiatives, although both parties have denied such a deal exists.

The coalition is racing to pass legislation before the Knesset is expected to enter its pre-election recess on July 16, after a Haredi boycott effectively froze coalition legislation for the last several weeks.

Haredi parties have boycotted coalition legislation in protest of the government’s failure to pass a bill enshrining blanket exemptions from military service for yeshiva students.

Following a 2024 High Court of Justice ruling ordering the government to start conscripting Haredi men, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community whose exemptions were revoked. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as deserters and made subject to arrest or other sanctions.

A small number of Haredi men have actually been arrested for draft evasion, and their imprisonment has become a cause celebre among Haredi politicians and their constituents. A number of protests have blocked highway traffic in opposition to the arrests, and other Haredi demonstrators have protested at officials’ homes or at police stations.