Knesset panel advances bill recognizing combat PTSD to plenum for final votes

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By Ariela Karmel

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15 July 2026, 4:35 pm Edit

Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

The Knesset House Committee unanimously approves legislation formally recognizing combat-related PTSD in law and establishing a statutory committee to provide exceptional assistance to disabled veterans and, in certain cases, their family members, paving the way for a final vote in the plenum.

Sponsored by coalition and opposition lawmakers, the bill passed its first reading unanimously, 61-0, in the plenum last night and has been fast-tracked with broad bipartisan backing.

“This law achieves historic justice by defining the term ‘combat PTSD’ in legislation for the first time,” says Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer, who co-sponsored the legislation. He adds that the newly established committee “will provide a humanitarian, life-saving safety net for even the most complex combat PTSD cases and for their families.”

Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik stresses that the measure is not merely declarative, saying it creates an operative obligation to provide care.

The legislation would define those with “combat-related PTSD” in the Disabled Veterans Law for the first time, require the Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation Department to provide treatment specifically tailored to them, and place the committee for exceptional assistance on a statutory footing.

According to the Defense Ministry, implementing the legislation is expected to cost NIS 44 million (about $13.1 million) and require 37 additional staff positions. The committee approved the funding package, earmarking NIS 12 million (about $3.6 million) specifically for the new committee, along with two additional staff positions.

While combat veterans in attendance express thanks, they also note that there is more to do, with one named Uriah saying the bill amounts to “a tiny fraction of what these people deserve.”

The coalition has simultaneously passed in recent days a series of controversial laws shielding ultra-Orthodox men from military service, including halting the arrests of draft dodgers, and a Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value, even as Israel remains engaged in a prolonged multifront war during which the IDF has repeatedly warned of severe manpower shortages and the number of soldiers suffering physical and psychological injuries, including PTSD, has skyrocketed.