From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 17, 2025
Yisrael Beytenu to advance bill stripping prisoners, draft dodgers of voting rights
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela 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.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman says that his party will advance a bill to revoke voting rights of prisoners, speaking before a faction meeting at the Knesset.
“We will revoke voting rights for all prisoners, and at the same time we will build enough prisons to put all the deserters in,” he says, referring to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who evade conscription orders.
According to Liberman, several Western countries, including the UK, New Zealand, and multiple EU states, limit or fully deny voting rights to incarcerated people — a model he argues Israel should follow.
Liberman made the comments amid a stormy debate over impending legislation that would regulate Haredi conscription, which the opposition has characterized as a way to enshrine continued widespread draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.
Earlier this month, Yisrael Beytenu tried to advance legislation that would strip voting rights from Israelis who refuse to enlist in military or national service, following a 200,000-strong ultra-Orthodox protest against military conscription, but the bill failed to pass its first reading in the Knesset.
The Times of Israel Community.