From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Degel HaTorah faction won’t commit to passing budget, as Smotrich reported to praise Haredi draft bill
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
The ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah faction rebuts Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s claim that it will vote yes on all three readings of the state budget, regardless of the ongoing debate over the Haredi draft exemption law.
“The Finance Minister’s statement regarding our alleged commitment to vote on the budget in the second and third readings is completely unfounded, and everyone is aware of that,” the faction says in a statement.
Earlier this evening, Smotrich stated that he would not have brought the state budget to a vote without a Haredi commitment to support it in all three readings. Haredi parties have threatened to withhold their support for the budget absent the passage of a bill enshrining exemptions to conscription for yeshiva students. The budget must pass by March to avoid triggering early elections.
The pro-government Channel 14 quotes Smotrich, whose Religious Zionism is officially undecided on the draft exemption legislation, as saying in discussions of the bill that it is “a good law, we will present it as an achievement.”
The Times of Israel Community.