Prime Minister Netanyahu and the leaders of Shas and United Torah Judaism reached a deal Wednesday: early elections on October 20 in exchange for immediate legislative advancement of the Basic Law: Torah Study and a bill to halt arrests of yeshiva students. In a joint statement, MKs Aryeh Deri and Moshe Gafni said they made clear they would support dissolving the Knesset next week if no concrete action is taken, and that Netanyahu committed to rapidly advancing the laws.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of the two Haredi coalition parties reached a deal Wednesday afternoon that temporarily averts the coalition crisis but sets Israel on a path to early elections in October. According to a joint statement by Shas chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism chairman MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, the agreement stipulates that elections will be held on October 20, in exchange for immediate legislative progress on two bills central to the Haredi parties' agenda: the Basic Law: Torah Study, which anchors Torah study as a national value equivalent to military service, and a law to halt the arrests of yeshiva students who refuse conscription.
The statement said Deri and Gafni met with Netanyahu and conveyed 'a clear and unequivocal demand' from the great rabbis to convene the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Knesset Committee this week to advance the legislation. They warned that without concrete action, they would support dissolving the Knesset as early as next week. Netanyahu, they said, committed to the rapid advancement of the laws.
The deal comes as the IDF faces a severe manpower shortage. In a separate development Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met with senior Religious-Zionist rabbis and yeshiva leaders to discuss the same underlying issue: the growing gap between the military's need for thousands more combat soldiers and the legal exemption for full-time yeshiva students. As The Zioneer reported earlier Wednesday, Zamir told the rabbis that integrating diverse populations depends on maintaining the army's Joint Service Order 'without compromise,' and that expanding women's combat roles would proceed on operational grounds. The Haredi leaders' ultimatum and the resulting deal effectively tie Netanyahu's political survival to passing legislation that critics — including former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, as The Zioneer previously reported — have called harmful to the IDF and national security.
The framework defers the immediate crisis but does not resolve the fundamental tension between the coalition's legislative agenda and the military's urgent personnel needs. The Basic Law still requires multiple Knesset votes, and the election date, if confirmed, would set the campaign period for the fall.
2 developments
- StrongHaredi parties issue ultimatum to Netanyahu: pass Torah Study law or face Knesset dissolution
- StrongNetanyahu meets Gafni to secure votes for Torah Study Basic Law
- DevelopingCoalition leaders agree: Basic Law Torah Study and freeze on draft-dodger arrests to pass before Knesset disperses
- DevelopingKnesset dissolution vote expected this week; Haredi legislation set to be buried
Source and signal
- Internal intake