Almost all bills removed once again from Knesset agenda as Haredi boycott enters 2nd week

Nearly all bills are removed from the Knesset plenum agenda for today as the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties’ legislative boycott enters its second week.

The boycott was initially prompted by the coalition’s refusal to advance the so-called Daycare Law, which would restore daycare subsidies for the children of draft evaders, to a plenum vote.

“The violent arrests of Torah students must stop! We informed the coalition chairman that as long as the law to stop arrests and the Basic Law on Torah study are not advanced, we will not support any coalition legislation,” Shas chairman Aryeh Deri tells party lawmakers during their weekly faction meeting.

The only remaining legislation on today’s agenda is a bill to extend a temporary order regulating Israel’s imprisonment of illegal combatants captured during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre, and a government bill expanding the power of the police to conduct searches. No other bills, including major coalition priorities, are set to be discussed, although lawmakers will vote to ratify the Knesset House Committee’s decision to take over deliberations on a controversial proposed Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel.

Lawmakers will also vote to approve the transfer of additional powers belonging to the interior minister, a position which is currently empty, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Shas and UTJ’s ongoing legislative boycott has left the government unable to advance its own agenda — centered on splitting up the role of the attorney general, establishing a politically appointed commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7 attack, and giving the government significant control over the media before the upcoming pre-election Knesset recess.