Knesset advances Torah study bill after haredim, Netanyahu agree to strip controversial clause

The haredi parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism - had reached an agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition shortly before the vote to amend the bill following legal warnings about a section of the legislation.

The agreement comes just before the expected end of the Knesset summer session, after the haredi parties had boycotted voting on coalition legislation when their bills were not being advanced rapidly enough.

The bill is part of a proposal that critics argue encourages draft evasion and changes the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits, even amid the IDF's severe manpower shortage.

Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik warned that the bill's previous wording could grant haredim who evade military service benefits similar to those available to IDF reservists. She had called for the legislation to be changed so that it would be purely declarative.

The joint statement from the haredi parties on the coalition agreement said that, under the instruction of senior Torah leaders, it was agreed that "the law will include only the first and central clause, which states that Torah study is a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people."

Coalition whip Ofir Katz (Likud), who also chairs the committee on which the bill is advanced, said that an agreement with the haredi parties was reached, under which the section on the "balance of values" would be removed from the bill.

MK Moshe Gafni, leader of the haredi Degel HaTorah faction, had previously demanded on Wednesday that Netanyahu advance the bill unchanged.

Gafni's demand threatened to stall the bill, which the haredi parties have been pushing for.

The move to change the wording has been seen as a way for the haredi parties to back down so that the legislation can progress amid the sharp legal criticism and backlash.

Another combat veteran told the committee that the country's political leadership had been delaying proper support for IDF veterans and soldiers for six years.

"You've been making promises for six years; how much is too much?" he said. "We’ve paid with our blood.”Due to the outburst, the meeting had to be stopped and went on a break before returning to continue deliberating the legislation.

Earlier in the meeting, Einav Danino, the mother of Ori Danino, who was murdered in Hamas captivity, told the panel that soldiers must be prioritized, speaking on how the IDF had brought the remains of her son back to her from Gaza.

"My Ori was murdered after 11 months in captivity, and I live with that pain thanks to the soldiers who brought him back to me, and they carry that burden with them. I would never have gotten Ori back without them,” she said.

The Torah study bill is part of a series of haredi-backed bills being advanced, amid numerous reports of agreements between the haredi parties and Netanyahu.

The coalition has been pushing a legislative blitz ahead of the Knesset’s final week of its summer session to advance as much legislation as possible before the upcoming elections.

The haredi parties boycotted coalition voting last month – stalling coalition bills – arguing that their legislation was not being advanced quickly enough.

Among the most controversial haredi-backed legislation is the Basic Law: Torah Study bill, as well as separate legislation that would temporarily freeze the arrests of haredi draft evaders.

The bill to freeze such arrests will continue to be debated in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Thursday after a week of marathon meetings on the matter.

The Basic Law: Torah study bill proposal calls for Torah study to be “a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel.

It had previously also proposed that the country recognize “Torah study as a fundamental value in the State of Israel in order to create a balance of justice in relation to other fundamental values in the state.”

That clause was removed after the coalition agreement was made.

Israel does not have a constitution, and instead has a series of Knesset-legislated basic laws on various subjects that hold a high legal status.

There had also previously been contentious wording in the bill’s proposal that equated those who study Torah with those who serve in the IDF. This comparison has since been removed from the legislation’s new draft.

Critics argued that the legislation could implicitly allow the comparison despite the change in wording. Lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition have publicly opposed the legislation and voted against it.

Netanyahu arrived at the plenum last week to vote in favor of the legislation when it passed its first reading.

The haredi parties have continuously encouraged the coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage after more than two years of war.

In April, the High Court of Justice ordered that the state take concrete steps to revoke key financial benefits from draft evaders and to move toward criminal enforcement against haredi men who evade military service.