{"id":186591,"date":"2026-07-01T20:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/186591\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T20:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:18:10","slug":"bill-to-enshrine-torah-study-into-basic-law-passes-in-first-knesset-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/186591\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to enshrine Torah study into Basic Law passes in first Knesset reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Knesset<\/a> passed the contentious bill, advanced by the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, in its first reading on Wednesday, seeking to enshrine Torah study in the country’s Basic Law, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at the plenum to vote in favor.<\/p>\n

The Basic Law: Torah Study 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<\/a>\u2019s severe manpower crisis.<\/p>\n

The bill was passed by a margin of 63 votes in favor, and 53 against.<\/p>\n

Its passage comes after weeks of threats from haredi party leaders to boycott coalition voting and disrupt the legislative agenda in an attempt to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>\u2019s coalition to rapidly advance a series of haredi-backed bills.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu was seen speaking to Shas party leader Arye Deri and other haredi lawmakers in the plenum ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

Three days of marathon meetings were scheduled in the Knesset\u2019s House Committee to fast-track the legislation this week, following the\u00a0haredi<\/a> boycott announcement.<\/p>\n

\"MKMK Moshe Gafni attends a Finance committee meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 29, 2026. (credit: CHAIM GOLDBERG\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Haredi party leaders had also said last week that they met with Netanyahu, and that the premier had “made it clear at the meeting that he is committed to approving the laws and will work to advance them quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation was sponsored by MK Moshe Gafni, of the United Torah Judaism Party, along with other haredi MKs, and had also received government backing ahead of its preliminary reading last month. It will now be brought back to the Knesset House Committee for debate and still requires approval in two more readings to become law.<\/p>\n

Coalition lawmakers oppose bill<\/p>\n

Lawmakers within Netanyahu\u2019s coalition have publicly opposed the legislation and voted against it.<\/p>\n

Two lawmakers from Netanyahu\u2019s ruling Likud party, MK Dan Illouz and MK Yuli Edelstein, have been vocal critics of the bill, along with coalition MKs Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel (New Hope-United Right) and Moshe Solomon (Religious Zionist Party).<\/p>\n

Gafni told the plenum ahead of the vote that “I do not believe there is a single member of the Knesset, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, who, if they set politics aside, would oppose this. This law should have been enacted when the State was established.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The wording in the proposal emphasizes Torah study as \u201ca fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It proposes that the country recognize \u201cTorah 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill grants rights to draft dodgers<\/p>\n

The existing wording, enshrined in the country\u2019s Basic Law, is expected to facilitate the granting of benefits and rights to haredi men who evade service.<\/p>\n

There had also been contentious wording in the bill\u2019s proposal equating those who study Torah with those who serve in the IDF, which has now been removed in the new draft of the legislation.<\/p>\n

Critics argue that the legislation’s implications would still grant sweeping state benefits to draft evaders, despite the change in wording, and could implicitly allow such a comparison.<\/p>\n

Deputy Attorney-General Avital Sompolinsky warned the Knesset House Committee on Tuesday against advancing the legislation, saying it appeared to be based on the perception that the place of the haredi community in Israeli society is not properly balanced.<\/p>\n

The bill to enshrine Torah study in Basic Law is also part of a series of bills being advanced by the haredi parties. The most recent proposal is a bill that would temporarily freeze the arrests of haredi draft evaders. It was debated for the first time on Tuesday in the Knesset\u2019s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if no solution was found for the manpower shortage.<\/p>\n

The tensions also come amid the coalition\u2019s last Knesset session to advance its legislation before the upcoming elections, scheduled for no later than October 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knesset passed the contentious bill, advanced by the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, in its first reading on Wednesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[40494,12272,37,55203,81,14788],"class_list":["post-186591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-draft","tag-haredi","tag-israel","tag-moshe-gafni","tag-politics","tag-ultra-orthodox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116846572778891754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}