The Knesset Committee voted to approve the Basic Law: Torah Study for its first-reading plenum vote on Tuesday, despite opposition protests during the committee session. The bill, which would effectively equate full-time Torah study with military service, now advances toward a plenum vote expected Wednesday.
The Knesset Committee formally approved the Basic Law: Torah Study for its first-reading plenum vote Tuesday afternoon, despite vocal opposition from coalition critics during the deliberation. The vote at the committee followed a sequence of accelerated procedural moves: as The Zioneer reported at 14:03, the committee had earlier approved the bill's final wording, and the coalition had already advanced the legislation to a first reading with a plenum vote now expected Wednesday. The bill — which would enshrine Torah study as a quasi-constitutional norm effectively equating full-time study with military service — has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders and reservist groups.
Over the thread, reporting on the bill's advancement has been steady and corroborated by multiple newsrooms. Initial reports on Sunday, June 28 at 20:33 cited journalist Daphna Liel's expectation that the law would pass its first reading Wednesday. By Monday, the same published timeline noted the second committee debate had concluded, with voting on articles set for Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon at 14:03, the committee had approved the final wording, a detail confirmed via The Zioneer's own coverage. The legal adviser, Attorney Sagit Afik, opposed an earlier procedural transfer of the bill from the Constitution Committee to the Knesset Committee, as The Zioneer reported on Monday, June 22.
Attributed background from The Zioneer's wider published record frames this as the coalition's latest push to pass the law before the Knesset disperses. The ministerial committee approved the bill earlier this month on June 9, and it passed a preliminary Knesset vote on June 10, drawing condemnation from opposition leaders Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman, and Gadi Eisenkot.
The precise timing of the final committee vote and the exact wording of the bill's clauses remain subject to the committee's published protocols.
5 developments
- StrongKnesset Committee approves transfer of Torah Study Basic Law; legal adviser opposes
- DevelopingKnesset advances Basic Law equating Torah study with IDF service
- DevelopingReligious Zionist party expected to back Basic Law: Torah Study in Knesset vote tomorrow
- StrongMinisterial committee approves Basic Law: Torah Study; Haredi parties call it merely declarative without equal-status clause
Source and signal
- Internal intake