From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
PM asked Haredi MKs to delay vote on draft exemption bill until after election – report
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"
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently requested that ultra-Orthodox lawmakers agree to delay until after the 2026 elections a Knesset vote on coalition legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service, the Behadrei Haredim outlet reports.
According to the Haredi news site, Netanyahu asserted that his coalition does “not have a majority” to push the controversial bill through “just before the primaries and the elections,” and due to the current security situation “it shouldn’t be on the agenda now.”
It quotes Netanyahu as arguing that following the elections, “Knesset members are waiting for positions, and then we can force the law to be approved.”
In a statement, Gafni says that “the report claiming that Prime Minister Netanyahu requested postponing the completion of the conscription law until after the elections is a complete fabrication.”
“The cat is out of the bag. It is as I have said from the beginning: Netanyahu has not, and never had, any intention of honoring the coalition agreement and the commitment to the Haredi parties,” declares United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf.
The Times of Israel Community.