From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 4, 2025
Edelstein ouster paving way for Haredi draft bill not enough to end UTJ boycott of coalition — spokesman
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"
Asked why United Torah Judaism chief Yitzhak Goldknopf abstained on a vote to replace Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, which is meant to answer his party’s demands, his spokesman tells The Times of Israel that the faction will continue withholding support from the coalition until legislation enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription is actually passed.
“When there is an amended conscription law, he will vote with the coalition again,” the spokesman says.
The Knesset House Committee voted 10-4 in favor of MK Boaz Bismuth as the next chairman of the powerful parliamentary panel this afternoon, pushing aside fellow Likud MK Edelstein, who had blocked legislation favored by UTJ and fellow Haredi party Shas from advancing.
The Times of Israel Community.