Ultra-Orthodox Leaders Pressure Netanyahu Over Draft and Torah Law Bills

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism’s Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni are meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand immediate progress on two key bills for the Haredi parties, the Basic Law on Torah study and the detention bill. According to the report, they plan to tell Netanyahu that if the coalition cannot secure a majority for the legislation, the ultra-Orthodox factions will push for the Knesset to be dissolved at once.

The meeting was set after Deri and Gafni skipped a coalition leaders' meeting scheduled for today, which led to its cancellation. The smaller session with Netanyahu is meant to answer one central question, whether the coalition has enough votes to pass the Haredi legislation. The two leaders are also expected to demand a clear commitment from Netanyahu that a majority will be found in the plenum.

Last week, Netanyahu reportedly promised Deri in a separate meeting that both bills would pass their second and third readings in the current Knesset and that he would personally secure the needed majority. In practice, however, the coalition has delayed the legislation, causing deep frustration among the Haredi parties.

The leaders say that if Netanyahu admits he cannot deliver the votes, they will demand an immediate dissolution of the Knesset. Until then, they say no other coalition legislation will move, effectively freezing the government's legislative agenda. Deri told his faction meeting, "We informed the coalition chairman that as long as the law to stop arrests and the Basic Law on Torah study are not advanced, we will not support any coalition legislation." Gafni said in the Knesset Committee, "I am fed up with promises in this term, I was lied to. I do not intend to be humiliated again."