From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
UTJ leader sends belated condolences to families of slain IDF soldiers, doesn’t acknowledge 4 are ultra-Orthodox
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"
More than 12 hours after the IDF announced that five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded by a roadside bomb in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun last night, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf releases a statement offering condolences to the families.
“With the entire people of Israel, I mourn the deaths of five of our best holy sons. I send my condolences to the bereaved families who paid the most precious thing to them, and I pray that death will be swallowed up forever and that all the soldiers and hostages will return safely,” Goldknopf says.
The senior Haredi politician does not mention that four out of the five soldiers killed were members of the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion.
Goldknopf’s statement comes as the Knesset’s Haredi parties are amid a Haredi legislative boycott, forcing the coalition to remove its bills from the Knesset agenda for the second day in a row. Shas and United Torah Judaism are boycotting the plenum to protest the lack of advancement in legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) is expected to soon unveil a revised conscription bill but has not yet done so, angering the Haredim.
The Times of Israel Community.