Opposition's Knesset dispersal bill fails after Edelstein, haredim reach draft bill agreement
When the opposition called for the vote, Deputy Minister Yaakov Tesler and MK Moshe Roth of Agudat Yisrael voted in favor of dissolving the Knesset.
The preliminary reading of a bill to dissolve the Knesset was rejected early Thursday morning by a vote of 61-53.
The vote was the climax of a political crisis between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties in the coalition over their demand to exempt large portions of eligible haredi men from IDF service.It came after a busy night of negotiations on a new IDF draft bill for haredim among Netanyahu’s representatives, the haredi parties, the Knesset’s legal advisory team, and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein.
At approximately 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning, Edelstein said he had reached “historic” agreements with the haredi representatives.
The haredi parties had threatened to vote with the opposition in favor of dispersing the Knesset if they could not come to a satisfactory agreement.
Throughout the night, the office of Rabbi Dov Lando, the senior Degel Hatorah rabbi, suggested the vote could be postponed by a week. Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, another senior Degel Hatorah rabbi, later said the vote to disperse the Knesset would be postponed by a week due to favorable changes in the IDF draft bill that had been made.
The haredim had taken advantage of the Knesset dispersal threat to eke out concessions from Edelstein, a Yesh Atid spokesperson said, adding that the opposition did not want to play into their hands.
Since the vote to disperse the Knesset was rejected, it cannot be proposed again for six months. This seemingly handcuffs the opposition, but the Yesh Atid spokesperson said if the haredim eventually decide to topple the government, there would be enough votes to enact a special parliamentary procedure for a new dispersal bill.
While Degel Hatorah and Shas voted against the bill, the hassidic United Torah Judaism’s Agudat Yisrael faction, which had taken the most hawkish stance against the government, said early Thursday morning ahead of the vote: “As of this moment, no draft law has been submitted, nor has any written proposal with the details of the law regulating the status of yeshiva students.
“Therefore, we are acting according to the clear instructions of our revered and esteemed members of the Council of Torah Sages, and we support the proposal to dissolve the Knesset, should it come to a vote.”
Agudat Yisrael's refusal to support the coalition after the agreement caused a haredi schism
Deputy Culture and Sport Minister Yaakov Tessler and MK Moshe Roth voted in favor of dissolving the Knesset, but their Agudat Yisrael colleague, MK Yisrael Eichler, broke with his faction and opposed it. His office said he had acted on the directions of the Belzer Rebbe.A few hours after the vote, Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf (UTJ) said he was resigning from the government.
In a letter to Netanyahu, he said the overnight agreements “did not match the clear agreements that were signed in the coalition agreement” between the two parties. Goldknopf accused Netanyahu of repeatedly breaking promises to pass a new IDF draft bill.
Goldknopf’s resignation was expected because he had threatened to resign numerous times in recent months. He will now return to the Knesset as a regular MK and will likely join the opposition in its attempts to bring down the government.
The office of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Minister Meir Porush (Agudat Yisrael) did not respond to a query about whether he would resign.
Sanctions for haredim who ignored draft orders
At the heart of the negotiations was the question of which sanctions would apply against haredim who ignored draft orders, and when they would begin to apply.Potential sanctions included preventing them from leaving the country, barring them from receiving state housing discounts, removing daycare subsidies, revoking driver’s licenses, and blocking state discounts on academic studies.
The details of the agreements between the negotiators were not published, but a spokesperson for one of the reservist organizations that met with Edelstein forwarded a draft and said it was “approximately accurate.” A Likud MK and a spokesperson for a Degel Hatorah MK gave similar answers. According to those sources, the agreements include:
- A gradual increase in draft quotas, beginning with 4,800 haredi draftees in the 2025-2026 draft year that begins on July 1; 5,700 draftees in the following year; and 50% of the haredi graduating class within five years. (approximately 9,000 recruits out of an estimated 18,000 graduates). Reaching 95% of the quota will be considered sufficient.
- Sanctions for draft dodgers will apply gradually, some immediately, and others following six months, a year, and two years. Immediate sanctions on individuals upon the law’s enactment include: Suspension of driver’s license and prohibition from obtaining one; travel restrictions on leaving the country (with an exceptions committee); cancellation of affirmative action in public service employmeny; cancellation of subsidies for academic studies; and loss of tax credit points until age 26 (for those working).
- Following six months, if draft quotas are not met, draft dodgers will no longer receive subsidies on public transportation or on daycare for the following six months.
- Following a year, draft dodgers will lose, for the following year, National Insurance benefits, access to discounted housing programs, and subsidies on second-hand real estate purchases.
- Following two years, draft dodgers will lose access during the third year to subsidized afternoon daycare and subsidies on new real estate purchases.
- Sanctions on yeshivot that do not meet quotas - If 75% or more of the quota is met, the remaining portion will be doubled and deducted from yeshiva funding. For example, if 80% of the target is achieved, the remaining 20% is doubled (40%) and cut from the yeshiva budget. If less than 75% of the target is met, 100% of yeshiva funding is revoked.
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz criticized members of the coalition who he claimed had opposed in private the direction the bill was taking.
In a press conference on Thursday, The Democrats chairman Yair Golan said he would not sit in a government that did not enact “one draft for all.” He called his opposition colleagues to announce the same.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett also criticized the agreement, saying it was ineffective and would not provide the IDF with the necessary manpower.
In a letter to Edelstein later on Thursday, opposition members of the FADC said the agreement “does not provide a solution to the needs presented by the IDF and entrenches mass draft evasion for generations.”
The agreement “will not ease the burden on reservists and may even worsen it,” they wrote.
The sanctions were “against those who serve instead of against those who evade service,” the MKs said, adding that Edelstein should change course.
