Coalition Plans Fast-Track Legislation as Haredi Parties Threaten to Split

While IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir again warned about a manpower crisis in the military, the coalition is preparing for a legislative marathon next week, with its priorities clear: strengthening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ties to the Haredi factions. To preserve the bloc, the government is expected to advance the Basic Law: Torah Study and a bill that would cancel the detention of draft evaders.

At the same time, the Haredi parties are looking for new leverage. On Friday, it was reported that Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael are threatening to run separately in the next election, citing “internal disputes.” To make that threat more credible, their representatives are said to be negotiating with Noam leader Avi Maoz, a move that could improve their chances of crossing the electoral threshold even on separate lists.

The background to the push is a broader political bargain. Netanyahu has demanded, in return for advancing the Haredi-backed bills, progress on legislation targeting the media, a bill splitting the role of the attorney general, and the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre.

The Torah Study Basic Law, sponsored by Knesset members Moshe Gafni, Yaakov Asher and Yitzchak Pindrus, seeks to enshrine Torah study as a fundamental value of the state. The updated draft, now moving forward after review by the ministerial committee on legislation, removes language saying Israel gives “supreme importance” to encouraging Torah study and deletes a clause equating full-time Torah learning with meaningful national service. The explanatory notes say Torah study has always been the foundation of the Jewish people and that constitutional recognition is meant to balance it against other basic values. The proposal also aims to resolve a legal issue raised by the Supreme Court, and it is the same bill that was previously brought before the 24th Knesset. Separately, Channel 13 reported two days earlier that the effort hit a legal obstacle when the Knesset legal adviser ruled the submission process improper, forcing a change to the committee’s agenda and blocking Shas’s attempt to claim political credit this week.