Yeshiva students

Knesset passes contentious haredi-backed bill to enshrine Torah study in Israel's Basic Law

The haredi-backed Basic Law passed its final Knesset votes after weeks of coalition tensions and warnings that it could encourage draft evasion.

MK Yitzhak Goldknopf (United Torah Judaism) attends a House committee meeting at the Knesset, July 12, 2026.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at Knesset plenum to vote in favor of Basic: Law Torah Study bill, shaking hands with Degel Hatorah leader MK Moshe Gafni, Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

Israel's hysterical Torah study bill will backfire on the ultra-Orthodox - opinion

Haredi anti-draft protesters block Highway 4 near Bnei Brak denouncing the detention of a draft dodger, February 9, 2026.

Laundering human capital: The reckless amnesty bills and their debasement of the Torah - opinion

People walk past election posters for the upcoming elections in Jerusalem on October 24, 2022.

Israel cannot afford Netanyahu’s capitulation to haredi demands - editorial


IDI study uncovers illegal employment among haredi Yeshiva students

"This study sheds light on the complex relationship between religious obligations and economic activity among young Haredi men," Gordon explained.

 Haredi youth works in office.

Haredi men must be drafted. What now? - opinion

The IDF needs to understand the true importance of this moment and make the right accommodations for new haredi conscripts to ease this bumpy process.

IDF recruitment office sign

Sparring in Jewish law: Rabbi Meir Eliyahu Pinto enthralled Ashdod


Soldier or scholar: Who is the better Jew? - opinion

History is not static; times change, conditions change, and we have to adapt to those changes.

 HAREDI MEN learn at the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim, Sept. 13, 2023.

Deep changes must take place in Israeli society for it to emerge united - editorial

In terms of the societal splits on which the court was asked to deliberate, it is a superficial Band-Aid, one that covers a deeper wound than can be fixed by the court alone.

 DESPITE THE IDF’s calculation that it needs 7,000 new troops, the vote to revive an older haredi draft bill was approved by the majority of the Knesset members.

How Ben-Gurion's pragmatic decision led to haredim draft exemption - analysis

David Ben-Gurion's 1948 decision not to draft yeshiva students shaped Israel's policy, sparking decades of debate on military exemptions amid societal and political transformations.

 David Ben-Gurion – Israeli politician, Zionist leader, First Prime Minister of israel.

High Court ruling is too little, too late - comment

The government cannot afford to completely ignore the ruling and refrain from drafting any haredim.

 Police disperse demonstrators during a protest against haredi IDF conscription, outside the High Court in Jerusalem, June 2, 2024

Netanyahu's Likud repeats misleading claim in attack on High Court ruling

The government promised a haredi draft bill would be completed by the end of the Knesset summer session - but it is currently proceeding at a slow pace.

 Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a Shas party meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 23, 2023.

'Holy Torah will prevail': Haredi lawmakers, ministers rage at Israel's High Court

Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Minister Meir Porush said the ruling is "leading to two states" of religious and secular Jews.

 (L-R) Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition Minister Meir Porush; Shas leader Arye Deri

High Court unanimously rules against exemption for haredim in IDF

Likud: Peculiar that the High Court is forcing ultra-Orthodox conscription • Ruling also calls to freeze funding of yeshivas who do not comply

 An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man is seen exiting an IDF recruiting office in Jerusalem, June 25, 2024