From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 9, 2026
UTJ’s Agudat Yisrael faction to vote against Arrangements Law in budget vote
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 ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party’s Agudat Yisrael faction will vote against the Arrangements Law, a critical part of the 2026 state budget, in the Knesset plenum today, faction mouthpiece HaModia announces.
Last night, Haredi media reported that the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s legal adviser and representatives of Haredi parties had begun closing the gaps between their positions on the coalition’s bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment and exemptions, following several hours of negotiations.
This is likely enough to prevent Shas and UTJ faction Degel HaTorah from blocking the advance of the bill, and both will likely join the coalition in voting in favor of splitting the annual Arrangements Law from a package of economic reforms being pushed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as part of the budget.
Last week, Shas blocked such a vote in order to protest the snail’s pace of the coalition’s draft exemption bill. The bill, if passed, will preserve sweeping exemptions from conscription for yeshiva students.
Degel HaTorah mouthpiece Yated Neeman does not state how the faction will vote.
The Times of Israel Community.