Netanyahu Pushes New Haredi Deal, Including Arrest Immunity for Draft Evaders

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is advancing two linked moves with ultra-Orthodox parties, a revised Basic Law on Torah study and temporary immunity from arrest for draft evaders. A new draft of the Basic Law was circulated on Thursday, and a marathon of committee discussions is expected to begin next week in the Knesset. The goal is to secure coalition backing after Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich objected to the previous wording, which treated military service and Torah study more equally in terms of rights and obligations.

According to the proposal, Torah study would be recognized as a foundational value in Israel in order to create “balances of justice” with other basic values, a reference to military service and equality in burden sharing. Haredi representatives say the revised text gives them a kind of legal protective shield close to their original objective.

At the same time, Netanyahu is said to have promised the Haredim arrest immunity without creating any mechanism to monitor who is actually studying. On Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs met Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to press the Knesset’s legal adviser to approve the move, although she has already said it is unacceptable, unreasonable, and “completely unacceptable.” The committee’s legal counsel also opposes it, and the Knesset legal adviser asked the Haredim to accept a system requiring daily fingerprint scans to verify attendance at yeshiva, which they rejected.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth is promoting the arrest-immunity plan as a temporary order, saying, “To advance the law I need the defense minister’s support.” Defense Minister Israel Katz is avoiding a decision because he knows the legal advisers will object. Initially, United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni was hesitant, but he later withdrew his reservations after Shas leader Aryeh Deri saw a political opportunity ahead of elections. Yitzhak Goldknopf and Agudat Yisrael said they will join only after legal approval. Haredi sources said, “Netanyahu promised us that next week it will go to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, our expectations and demands are only from the prime minister.”