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Sunday, May 24, 2026
Leaders of key Knesset panel reportedly to present updated Haredi draft exemption 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 leadership of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is preparing to distribute an updated draft of the coalition’s controversial Haredi draft exemption bill to lawmakers, Hebrew media outlets report.
The bill — which would ostensibly increase military conscription in the Haredi community, but ultimately enables continued exemptions for full-time yeshiva students — is widely seen as legally iffy and loophole-laden. It has generated intense resistance even among members of Netanyahu’s coalition.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days has been putting pressure on coalition MKs opposed to the legislation to come around and support it.
Asked to confirm that members of the committee are expecting an updated draft, member Tally Gotliv (Likud) tells The Times of Israel that she “finds it unlikely that it will advance to the plenum.”
The Times of Israel Community.