Budget logjam said to clear after reported progress in talks on Haredi draft exemption bill

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s legal adviser and representatives of Haredi parties have begun closing the gaps between their positions on the coalition’s bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment and exemptions, following several hours of negotiations.

According to ultra-Orthodox media, the progress on the controversial bill, which is not specified, is likely enough to prevent Shas and Degel HaTorah from blocking the advance of a critical budget-related bill in the Knesset tomorrow.

The media outlets report that the talks between legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor and the Haredi leaders have advanced enough that the coalition estimates that the two factions will support a crucial step in advancing the state budget. Namely, they now plan to vote in favor of splitting the annual Arrangements Law from a package of economic reforms being pushed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as part of the budget.

Last week, Shas blocked such a vote in order to protest the snail’s pace of the coalition’s draft exemption bill. The bill, if passed, will preserve sweeping exemptions from conscription for yeshiva students.

Further delays in the vote could complicate the timeline for approving the budget, which must pass by the end of March in order to prevent the dissolution of the Knesset. Failure to pass the budget would trigger early elections in June. Elections are currently slated to be held by late October.

Ultra-Orthodox representatives are pushing back hard against changes demanded by Frenkel Shor, who has criticized the bill and called for the addition of several amendments that are opposed by the Haredim.

According to Shalom Stein, a reporter for the Emess news site, the meeting between Frenkel Shor and the Haredi lawmakers was attended by former Shas MK Ariel Attias and current Shas lawmaker Yinon Azoulay, along with Degel HaTorah’s Uri Maklev.