Netanyahu Promises Ultra-Orthodox Backing for Their Bills or Faces Knesset Dissolution Vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday with ultra-Orthodox coalition leaders Aryeh Deri of Shas and Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism, without Bezalel Smotrich or Itamar Ben Gvir present, as pressure mounted to advance a bill to dissolve the Knesset this week. After the closed-door meeting, Gafni and Deri said Netanyahu told them he was committed to pushing the legislation they want promoted, and they warned that if that does not happen, they will support dissolving the Knesset next week.

According to the emerging understanding described in the report, the deal would include advancing a bill to split the attorney general’s role, legislation that would weaken the media, and a political inquiry committee, in exchange for measures to stop arrests of yeshiva students and protect Torah study. The ultra-Orthodox parties are also expected to give up two other bills, on housing allowances and kashrut supervision.

In a joint statement, Gafni and Deri said they conveyed a “clear and unequivocal” demand, on behalf of leading rabbis, to immediately advance a Basic Law on Torah study and a law to stop the arrest of Torah students by convening the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Knesset Committee this week. They said they would back Knesset dissolution next week if there were no practical steps, and added that Netanyahu told them he was committed to approving the laws and would work to move them quickly.

The reported arrangement drew a fierce response from the October Council, which called it “not a political deal, but blood profiteering.” The group said that while October 7 has still not been investigated and families have gone about a thousand days without answers, Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties are trading truth for political survival. It also accused them of valuing the blood of more than 2,000 dead and murdered Israelis less than draft-evasion, kashrut, political immunity and dismantling law enforcement.