From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Opposition slams Torah study Basic Law bill as bid to preserve Haredi IDF draft exemptions
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.
Opposition leaders lambaste the coalition after the Knesset votes to advance a controversial quasi-constituitonal Basic Law enshrining Torah study as a foundational value and effectively equating long-term Torah study with military service.
The coalition has insisted that language equating Torah study with military service will be removed before the bill’s next reading, warning that otherwise it will withdraw its support.
But left-wing Democrats MK Gilad Kariv dismisses those assurances, calling them “a complete lie.”
“The legislation explicitly states that evading military service in favor of yeshiva study will be recognized as a significant contribution to the State of Israel,” Kariv says, accusing the coalition of “spitting in the face of the serving public and bereaved families.”
Responding to United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni’s remarks in the plenum that Torah study has sustained the Jewish people throughout history, including “in Warsaw during the Holocaust,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says, “In the Warsaw Ghetto they did not receive stipends to study Torah; in the Warsaw Ghetto they took up arms and launched a revolt for the Jewish people.”
He noted that his father, Holocaust survivor and former government minister Tommy Lapid, was forced into the ghetto “because there was no [Jewish] army.”
“This is a law to finance draft evasion. It is not a law about Torah – it’s a law about money,” says Lapid, chair of the centrist Yesh Atid.
National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot, who is leading the opposition party Yashar ahead of upcoming elections, calls the legislation part of “a deal for a few more weeks in power” between the ultra-Orthodox parties and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, made at the expense of “Israeli lives and security.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is also running to unseat Netanyahu as head of the Together slate, appeals directly to the Haredi public, arguing that the measure will harm both the state and the ultra-Orthodox community while serving only Haredi political leaders.
Referring to the leaders of the Haredi Shas and UTJ parties, he says, “[Aryeh] Deri and [Yitzhak] Goldknopf are condemning you to lives of poverty and dependence while they live in luxury villas and wear luxury brands. This is not Torah — it is a business model.”
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