A senior Haredi party official told N12 that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is using Finance Ministry cost estimates to torpedo the Basic Law: Torah Study, which would enshrine yeshiva exemptions from military service. The official said Smotrich told allies he would 'torpedo it through the clerks' and then claim it wasn't his doing.
A new accusation from within the Haredi political leadership escalates the coalition crisis over the Basic Law: Torah Study. According to a senior official from one of the Haredi parties who spoke with N12 tonight (Sunday, July 5), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is deliberately deploying Finance Ministry cost analyses to prevent the bill from advancing.
The official, who was not named, said Smotrich told allies he would 'torpedo it through the clerks' — referring to the ministry's professional staff — and then issue a denial claiming the opinion was issued against his wishes. The official pointedly noted that Smotrich did not commission similar cost estimates for projects linked to far-right MK Limor Son Har-Melech (Strock's party). 'Show me one ministry letter about Strock's budgets — only about the Haredi budgets,' the official said.
This is not the first time Smotrich has been drawn into the Torah Study bill saga. As The Zioneer reported earlier, Smotrich was a signatory on the original bill before opposing it in its current form. The Haredi parties have pressed Prime Minister Netanyahu to bring the law to a vote in the Knesset plenum, while Smotrich has called on the Haredi public to 'correct' its stance on military enlistment. The new allegation suggests the conflict has moved from public statements to operative obstruction through the state bureaucracy.
3 developments
- StrongSmotrich opposes ultra-Orthodox Torah-study Basic Law bill
- DevelopingSmotrich revealed as original sponsor of Basic Law: Torah Study
- StrongPublic anger grows as Finance Ministry warns Torah-study law would force 16% tax hike
- DevelopingSmotrich says he hopes Haredim will 'correct' course on enlistment
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
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