Knesset advances conscription bill, securing coalition deal

The Knesset plenum voted 59-38 in favor of a bill exempting ultra-Orthodox seminary students from the military draft. It was the preliminary vote of a version of the bill proposed by Shas MK Yoav Ben Tzur, and its successful advance in the plenum officially secured the coalition agreement from earlier this evening that ended the worst coalition crisis since this government was formed in mid-2015.

The conscription bill will now be frozen until the Knesset returns from its recess in mid-April, when a government bill drafted by the Defense Ministry will be proposed and merged with the Ben Tzur bill, taking the army’s personnel needs into account as the Knesset takes up once again the question of ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions.