United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni said Wednesday in the Knesset Constitution Committee that he will not move forward with the Basic Law on Torah Study unless the coalition gives a clear commitment to approve it. His comments reflected growing anger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he shelved the housing subsidy bill for haredi yeshiva students last week and failed to advance other haredi-backed legislation.
Gafni said, “I am full of promises in this term, I was lied to.” He added that if the committee approves transferring the bill from the Constitution Committee to the Knesset Committee, he wants, as the bill’s initiator, to know before deliberations begin whether the coalition intends to promote and pass it. “I am stating clearly, I do not intend to be humiliated again. I have had enough of promises that were not kept,” he said.
Netanyahu told senior haredi politicians last week that the housing bill would not pass in the current term because he lacks a coalition majority. Some Likud and other coalition lawmakers are expected to vote against it. The measure was meant to restore daycare subsidies for young yeshiva students who received draft orders, and it had been a top priority for the ultra-Orthodox parties, which had previously insisted it would pass this term.
The Basic Law on Torah Study, which has already passed a preliminary reading, is intended to enshrine Torah study as a constitutional value. Gafni previously devoted a Knesset plenum speech to the historical significance of Torah learning, and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri called the preliminary approval “a historic step” toward recognizing the supreme value of the Torah. The haredi parties are now deeply frustrated that Netanyahu may dissolve the Knesset without passing any of the laws they demanded, and they have warned coalition leaders they will block Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s legislation until the Torah study law and the arrests bill advance.
