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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 625

Moshe Gafni

United Torah Judaism MKs confer in the Knesset plenum, December 4, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)
June 4, 2025, 2:59 pm
Elections may loom as senior rabbis tell Haredi UTJ party to bolt coalition
Party’s spiritual leaders, fed up with failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from conscription, reportedly refusing to speak with Netanyahu; UTJ would need Shas’s support to bring down government
By Sam Sokol
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City on Jerusalem Day, May 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
May 26, 2025, 8:14 pm
Ben Gvir says Jewish prayer, including full prostration, permitted at Temple Mount
Far-right minister rejects longtime status quo at flashpoint Jerusalem holy site; Prime Minister’s Office: ‘Israel’s policy concerning the Temple Mount has not changed’
By Sam Sokol
Knesset Finance Committee chair Moshe Gafni (3rd from left) and other ultra-Orthodox lawmakers pictured in the Knesset as the 2025 state budget law is passed, March 25, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
May 5, 2025, 11:07 pm
Haredi parties to boycott government votes over failure to pass IDF exemption law
Ultra-Orthodox MK warns that if legislation doesn’t pass during current Knesset session, ‘we will have a very big problem sitting in such a government’
By Sam Sokol
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting for his Religious Zionism party at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
April 22, 2025, 6:07 pm
‘Send your children to fight’: Smotrich spars with Haredi MKs over hostages, IDF
Dispute among coalition members sparked after Shas and United Torah Judaism lawmakers slam finance minister for saying that ‘returning the hostages is not the most important thing’
By Sam Sokol
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting of his Religious Zionist party, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
April 21, 2025, 1:31 pm
Smotrich says returning hostages ‘not the most important thing,’ sparking fierce backlash
Hostages’ families say ‘history will remember’ far-right minister; top Haredi coalition lawmaker disputes his statement, and opposition politicians say he’s ‘sacrificing’ captives
By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (left) visits Jerusalem's Temple Mount, April 2, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
April 2, 2025, 3:20 pm
Ben Gvir again ascends, prays on Temple Mount; Haredi MK slams visit as ‘desecration’
National security minister’s visit to flashpoint site immediately after Ramadan’s conclusion stirs ‘unnecessary incitement in Muslim world,’ charges UTJ’s Gafni
By Sam Sokol and Agencies
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) with coalition lawmakers as the 2025 state budget law is passed by the Knesset, March 25, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 25, 2025, 5:26 pm
In major success for government, Knesset approves 2025 budget, staving off elections
Coalition lawmakers escorted into Knesset under guard as anti-government protesters block entrance. Opposition MKs chant ‘shame’, families of hostages protest from gallery, as law passes final reading
By Sam Sokol
Yesh Atid party chair Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, on March 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 24, 2025, 9:42 pm
‘Billions are being stolen’: Opposition slams 2025 state budget ahead of final vote
MKs launch 15-hour extended debate of controversial NIS 756 billion ($203.5 billion) wartime budget, which Lapid pans as the ‘greatest robbery in the history of the country’
By Sam Sokol
Ultra-Orthodox posters in Beit Shemesh demand the passage of a law exempting yeshiva students from military service prior to the passage of the 2025 state budget, March 6, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
March 6, 2025, 8:43 pm
Haredi lawmakers split on approach to budget, which must pass this month or gov’t falls
While UTJ chair Goldknopf threatens to send Israel to elections if Haredi draft-exemption bill not passed, other ultra-Orthodox MKs say problems solved with $280 million now in budget base
By Sam Sokol and Leon Kraiem
The Bank of Israel's main offices in Jerusalem, January 2, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
January 20, 2025, 10:52 pm
Bank of Israel calls for 2025 budget passage without changes to gain markets’ trust
But Finance Ministry says amendments may be needed in light of recommendations by the Nagel committee that examined defense expenditure in coming years
By Sharon Wrobel and Reuters
UTJ MK Moshe Gafni (left), chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, presides over a committee meeting on education funding on December 31, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesman)
January 2, 2025, 11:45 pm
Opposition furious at 11th-hour transfer of hundreds of millions to Haredi education
‘We didn’t have time to read, understand, study the material,’ complains MK Beliak, day after Finance Committee pushed through extra budgets. Opposition weighs High Court petition
By Sam Sokol
Rabbi Kalman Ber attends a vote for the new Chief Ashkenazi rabbi, at the Chief Rabbinate headquarters in Jerusalem, October 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 31, 2024, 8:02 pm
Ultra-Orthodox-backed Kalman Ber chosen as Ashkenazi chief rabbi in runoff
Top Netanya cleric beats out Rabbi Micha Halevi, who drew anger from religious Zionists by reneging on promise to stay out of race, after initial balloting ended in tie
By Mati Wagner and ToI Staff
Destroyed houses from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, September 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
September 23, 2024, 8:58 pm
UTJ organ Hamodia publishes op-ed blaming southern kibbutz residents for October 7
Lawmakers blast article in which former candidate for Haredi party claimed left-leaning southerners brought disaster on themselves, need forgiveness for blaming government
By ToI Staff
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri pictured at a faction meeting in the Knesset on February 13, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 10, 2024, 2:04 am
Amid squabbles, lawmakers in government no longer take its survival for granted
As parties turn on each other and trust in the prime minister erodes, coalition politicians are increasingly voicing concern their fractious alliance may not last
By Sam Sokol
MK Moshe Gafni chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, July 2, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 8, 2024, 6:26 pm
As coalition tensions mount, top Haredi MK hints at potential dissolution of coalition
Growing discord within Netanyahu’s alliance of parties has some lawmakers questioning how long the government can last
By Sam Sokol
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