Ultra-Orthodox parties to start boycotting government votes in protest over lack of Haredi draft law

Both of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox parties will boycott votes on coalition legislation on Wednesday, in protest of the government’s failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service.

According to Hebrew media, United Torah Judaism decided on Monday, during its weekly faction meeting, that, starting on Wednesday, the party will no longer vote with the coalition.

i24 reports that UTJ is being joined by Shas, with both parties informing coalition whip Ofir Katz (Likud) that they would act in concert in boycotting bills during Wednesday’s plenum session.

In response, Likud MK Dan Illouz declares on X that “if the Haredi factions boycott the government’s votes and harm the ability to maintain a normal daily routine, the Likud should also be freed from automatically voting for their legislation.”

“The Likud is not a floor rag, but a magnificent national movement — the largest in the coalition and in the Knesset. I will not let you humiliate us,” he writes.

Speaking with Haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat, UTJ MK Yaakov Asher states that if the Knesset does not pass the legislation by the end of the Knesset’s summer legislative session, which ends on July 27, his party will no longer be able to remain in the government.

In an interview, Asher states that, while his party gave the coalition more time after it had failed to pass such a law before the 2025 state budget, it cannot wait any longer.

“If this law does not pass in this session…we will have a very big problem sitting in such a government, period,” he says, explaining that UTJ will “cannot be part of a government” that turns Haredim “into criminals.”

“I can tell you, we don’t know how to sit in a government that will come and say we’re not passing this law,” he continues, calling the legislation “the most important thing for the Jewish people.”

“I don’t see ourselves sitting in a government like that, period.”