UTJ threatens to bolt coalition if law keeping haredim out of IDF not passed before budget
Party head Goldknopf claims he’s not against military service by ultra-Orthodox who aren’t in yeshiva; complains his constituents are ‘suffering’ from government subsidy cuts
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

United Torah Judaism party chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf threatened to bolt the coalition on Tuesday, stating that his ultra-Orthodox party would not be able to remain part of the government if a bill exempting Haredi yeshiva students from military service isn’t passed before the 2025 state budget comes up for approval.
“Without a doubt, the conscription law will be passed before the government approves the budget… [but] if it doesn’t happen, we won’t be in the government,” Goldknopf, the housing minister, told the Makor Rishon newspaper.
“We will not be in the government without a conscription law,” he cautioned.
He further said that, unlike many senior ultra-Orthodox rabbinical leaders and politicians, he would not oppose moves to enlist Haredi Jews who are not enrolled full-time in yeshiva.
“Let them be drafted, it is none of our business,” he said. “Our law [that will be proposed] does not protect those who do not study Torah. I need the recruitment law to recruit the Haredim who do not study.”
United Torah Judaism’s exit from the coalition would not topple the government, but would leave it extremely vulnerable with a bare majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Meanwhile, failure to pass a budget by March would trigger new elections.
Goldknopf’s remarks confirm previous reporting that he has threatened to vote against the 2025 budget in the cabinet unless a Haredi army exemption bill is passed in the coming weeks.

The Finance Ministry on Monday released a draft copy of the Economic Arrangements Law — a precursor to the annual state budget — for public comment before it goes to the cabinet.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly reassured the ultra-Orthodox that his government will advance a bill facilitating sweeping exemptions for Haredi men from mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces by the end of the month, according to Hebrew media reports.
In June, the High Court of Justice ruled that there is no legal basis for the decades-long practice of exempting Haredi men from the military draft. The IDF then sent out draft orders to several thousand ultra-Orthodox men, which led to protests and fierce opposition from the religious and political leadership of the ultra-Orthodox.
The bill that seeks to regulate the issue is currently stuck in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, whose chairman, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, has said that it will only pass if lawmakers can reach a “broad consensus” on the matter.
Addressing a conference last week, Edelstein said that whatever bill his committee passes would not fully satisfy either side but would be a “good law” that would help mobilize additional necessary manpower for the IDF.
Speaking with Makor Rishon, Goldknopf hit back at critics calling for Haredi men to be recruited to more evenly spread the burden of military service across Israeli society, stating that the nation needs both Torah students and soldiers.
“Do you think that everyone [among the general population] who needs to enlist is enlisting?” he asked.
He added that Haredim are “suffering” from cuts to yeshiva budgets and government subsidies for daycare. This summer’s High Court ruling permanently barred the state from funding ultra-Orthodox yeshivas whose students should be in the army, asserting that those funds depended on IDF exemptions that now no longer exist.

In addition, in August, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon informed Labor and Welfare Minister Yoav Ben Tzur that his ministry must halt daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who were previously exempt from military service by November 30.
In his Tuesday interview, Goldknopf also hit back at critics of Netanyahu’s handling of security affairs leading up to Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023, saying that it is a “mistake that we blame Netanyahu for everything.” In addition, he spoke out against Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial, stating that it is necessary “to make sure that the prime minister is free to lead the country.”
Goldknopf also said that while he “will support any deal” to free the 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “is not ready to sit down with [us] for any deal.”
“Unfortunately, the war continues, and according to the information I have, Israel will attack Hezbollah and Gaza in a war they have never seen before. I think there will also be a war with Iran. The atmosphere is heating up. We need to show our enemies that a war with us is not worth it,” he declared.

Responding to Goldknopf, Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu countered that “there is no public information office in the world that can explain how, during the most difficult war in our history, the government is enacting a draft evasion law that will grant 70,000 young and healthy Haredim a blanket exemption from conscription.
“This is not just a violation of equality, it is a violation of Israel’s security, since the IDF needs thousands more fighters to defend the country’s borders. Where will they come from?” he asked.