The Knesset passed in its preliminary reading on Wednesday a bill that seeks to enshrine Torah study in the Basic Law, as part of a proposal pushed by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties that seeks to encourage draft evasion and change the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits.
The legislation passed with 56 lawmakers in favor and 43 against. It was sponsored by MK Moshe Gafni, of the United Torah Judaism Party, and had received government backing ahead of the vote. It will now be brought to the House Committee for debate and still requires approval in three more readings to become law.
The haredi Sephardic Shas Party supported the bill and sought this week to advance legislation under the same name that contained contentious wording calling for equality of rights between IDF soldiers who serve and haredim who evade military service. This sparked outrage from both coalition and opposition lawmakers on Monday amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis.
Leader of the Shas Party, Arye Deri, demanded that legislation be advanced, and said on Monday that its passage was a condition for party lawmakers to join coalition votes.
The far-right Religious Zionist Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said on Tuesday that it would not support a bill that calls for equality of rights between IDF soldiers who serve and haredim who evade military service.
The contentious wording was subsequently removed, but the move to enshrine Torah study into the country’s Basic Law would still have sweeping implications on the status of haredim who evade service in the country and would still, effectively, equate IDF soldiers to draft evaders.
Prof. Benjamin Porat, a Senior Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that although the wording was changed so that the comparison was no longer made explicitly, the current version still makes it implicitly.
According to Porat, the substance of the bill had not changed, only the rhetoric. If the legislation passes, he said that it could pave the way for claims that Torah students who evade service should be regarded as equal to IDF soldiers.
While almost all Religious Zionist Party MKs voted in favor of the bill during the vote, MK Moshe Solomon (RZP) voted against. Smotrich subsequently announced he was taking a punitive measure against Solomon, removing him from all his roles in various Knesset committees because he voted against the legislation.
The Religious Zionist Party stated that Solomon had surprised his colleagues with his decision to vote against the legislation, arguing that this “severely damaged their trust.”
In response to Smotrich’s disciplinary action, Solomon stated that he could not “live with dishonesty in [his] soul.”
“I cannot look into the eyes of bereaved families from our community, the Religious Zionist community, and vote in favor of a law that says there is no need to integrate Torah and military service,” he explained regarding his decision to vote against the bill.
“I promised myself that I would not lend a hand to such a moral and eternal injustice,” Solomon added. “If the price I must pay is this, then this will be the price.”.
Who voted against the Torah Study bill?
MK Dan Illouz and MK Yuli Edelstein, members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, also voted against the legislation.
Lawmakers from the Arab parties were not present during the vote, and were reportedly absent due to an agreement made with Gafni aimed at ensuring the legislation’s passage.
MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta’al) and other Arab lawmakers returned shortly afterward to the plenum once the vote was over.
Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman slammed the reported deal between Gafni and Arab parties, stating that “the unholy alliance between Arab Knesset members and haredi Knesset members continues.”
Gafni’s bill states that it seeks to enshrine into the Basic Law the status of Torah study as “a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people.”
It proposes that the State of Israel “recognize those who commit themselves to long-term dedication to Torah study as performing significant service to the state and the Jewish people.”
The existing wording, enshrined in the country’s Basic Law, would ease the ability to grant benefits and rights to haredi men who evade service.
Haredi party leaders have continuously pushed for Netanyahu’s coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, notably after more than two years of war.
What is the status of the Haredi draft in Israel?
In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage.
Moving forward with the legislation also comes as the High Court of Justice ordered in April 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.
The Movement for Quality Government organization sharply criticized the advancement of the legislation, stating that ahead of the upcoming elections, the coalition was “advancing a last-minute legislative blitz whose sole purpose is to entrench draft evasion.”
The organization explained that the essence of Basic Law: Torah Study was to create a counterweight to the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.
“This would be done to bypass the principle of equality and prevent state benefits from being conditioned on military service, precisely at a moment when economic sanctions are beginning to work and are leading to an increase in ultra-Orthodox enlistment,” the Movement for Quality Government added.
Gafni argued to the plenum ahead of the vote that Torah study was a fundamental value, and in recent history, children and young men were studying Torah during the Holocaust.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded to Gafni in his plenum speech that during the Holocaust, “people did not receive stipends to study Torah.”
“In the Warsaw Ghetto, they took up arms and revolted on behalf of the Jewish people. My father sat in the ghetto because there was no army of the State of Israel, and you’re talking about the ghetto?
"What does this law have to do with Torah study? This is a law to finance draft evasion. It is not a law about Torah; it is a law about money,” Lapid added.
Liberman vowed that after the upcoming elections, all the “draft-evasion Basic Laws will be annulled. Not a trace of them will remain!”
The advancement of Basic Law: Torah Study legislation is also reportedly part of an emerging deal between Netanyahu and the haredi parties, ahead of the upcoming Knesset dissolution vote in its second and third readings.
The agreement between Netanyahu and the parties is to push the election date to October 20, rather than hold it in September, as the haredi parties had sought. In return, they would receive advancement on the Basic Law: Torah Study, haredi daycare subsidies law, and the kashrut law, according to a Channel 12 report.
Lawmakers from Shas and UTJ told the Knesset House Committee last week that they wanted to move up the election date to September, before the High Holy Days. Numerous reports have stated that the haredi parties have pushed for this to lead to a better turnout among their voters.
Reportedly, Netanyahu has opposed the move and instead seeks to hold elections in late October, allowing the coalition more time to advance legislation during the Knesset’s final session and potentially achieve military goals.
Yashar! Party leader Gadi Eisenkot, a rival candidate against Netanyahu, stated after the vote that “the deal of a few extra weeks in power in exchange for the Basic Law: Torah Study is a summary of the history of the most disconnected, irresponsible, and shameful government.”
“Instead of strengthening the IDF in a full-scale war, the government is doing the opposite and undermining the strength and spirit of the state,” he added, vowing to replace the government.
Elections must take place no later than October 27.