From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Coalition shelves planned bills amid Haredi threats to boycott votes over draft exemptions
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"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition will not bring any private member bills to the Knesset plenum tomorrow, following threats by the United Torah Judaism and Shas parties to boycott votes on coalition legislation.
The two parties made their threat in light of the government’s failure to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service in the wake of last year’s High Court ruling that such exemptions have no legal basis.
According to Channel 12, the Haredi parties will still cooperate with the coalition in voting down opposition bills.
Yesterday, UTJ appeared to threaten to withdraw from the government completely over the enlistment issue, with MK Yaakov Asher telling Haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat that if the Knesset does not pass draft exemption legislation by the end of the summer session, his party will no longer be able to remain in the government.
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