During a Knesset Committee hearing on the Basic Law: Torah Study bill Tuesday, lawmakers exchanged sharp shouts, with one saying: 'What are we, drug addicts?' and another asking: 'Do we look transparent to you? We've given blood for years.' The exchange was reported by Israeli media.
The Knesset Committee hearing Tuesday on the Basic Law: Torah Study bill saw another round of heated exchanges, building on a pattern of contentious debate over the legislation. The Torah Study Basic Law, which would grant Torah study the legal status equivalent to military or national service, has been a flashpoint in coalition politics, drawing criticism from reservist and secular-right groups who see it as institutionalizing draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. Tuesday's outburst — with lawmakers asking each other 'What are we, drug addicts?' and 'Do we look transparent to you? We've given blood for years' — reflects the raw emotion behind the issue. The exchange came during committee deliberations on the bill, which has already passed a first reading in the Knesset plenum. No further details on the procedural outcome or schedule of the committee's work have been reported. As The Zioneer has previously covered, the bill has sparked a series of emotional confrontations, including a past incident where a PTSD-stricken reservist disrupted a committee session.
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
- Internal intake