Degel HaTorah rejects proposal to apply ‘continuity’ to draft exemption bill, halt Knesset dissolution

The ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah party rejects a coalition proposal aimed at preventing the dissolution of the Knesset, which would ostensibly have ensured that work on the current bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service could continue uninterrupted in the next Knesset.

Degel HaTorah is one of two factions within the Knesset’s larger United Torah Judaism party.

“We are sick and tired of futile actions designed to buy time and distract attention, only for it to be claimed in the end that there is no majority,” says the party in a statement. “We have notified the coalition management that we oppose the amendment to the Continuity Law and, per [rabbinic instructions], we are acting to dissolve the Knesset as soon as possible.”

On Tuesday morning, the party said it would seek to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections because of the coalition’s failure to pass a law enshrining the decades-old exemption of Haredi yeshiva students from military service. This call was backed up by UTJ’s Agudat Yisrael faction.

In an apparent attempt to control the process and timing of the dissolution, the coalition subsequently submitted its own bill to dissolve the Knesset and trigger an election, which was cosponsored by UTJ.

However, Hebrew media reported late last night that Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs had proposed to the Haredim to amend the law so that “continuity” could be applied to a bill twice, allowing legislative work to continue through three consecutive Knesset sittings.

While Degel HaTorah has rejected the proposal, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party is still considering it, according to the Haredi news site Emess.