United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chairman Yizhak Goldknopf resigned on Thursday from his position as Housing Minister, in protest of what he claimed were insufficient agreements regarding a bill that would exempt a majority of haredim from IDF service.

In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Goldknopf outlined the series of delays and setbacks that prevented the bill from proceeding.

He noted that in coalition agreements prior to the government’s formation in late 2022, he had received a written promise from Netanyahu that a new haredi IDF draft bill would pass by the time the 2023 budget passed.

However, this did not happen, and despite numerous warnings, the issue has yet to be resolved, Goldknopf wrote.

"Following the pressure we exerted and the moral positions we prevented from being ignored, only in the last few days did the relevant parties come in to make the necessary corrections, as should have been done beforehand, according to the coalition commitments,” Goldknopf wrote.

Yitzhak Goldknopf at the Knesset on March 3, 2025. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Yitzhak Goldknopf at the Knesset on March 3, 2025. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
He disregarded agreements reached between Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense (FADC) Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein and representatives of Shas and Degel Hatorah (the Lithuanian branch of UTJ), saying that they “did not match the clear agreements that were signed in the coalition agreement” between the two parties.

Resignation was not unexpected

Goldknopf’s resignation was not unexpected, as he consistently took the most hawkish view on the issue of haredi IDF service, and has threatened to resign on multiple occasions in recent months.

Golkdnopf will now return to the Knesset as a regular Member of Knesset, and will likely join the opposition in its attempts to bring down the government.