After Voting Against the Torah Study Basic Law, Smotrich Removes MK from Committee Posts

In a clash during the debate on the enlistment bill in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset on December 23, 2025, following MK Moshe Solomon’s vote against the Basic Law on Torah study, Religious Zionism chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich decided today, Wednesday, to remove Solomon from the Knesset committees on which he served on behalf of the faction.

Religious Zionism said that “MK Moshe Solomon chose to act on his own, contrary to the faction’s decision. He did not inform his colleagues in advance that he intended to vote against it, and he surprised all the faction members with his conduct, thereby seriously damaging their trust in him.” The party also said this was a breach of factional discipline that, in its view, does not allow continued representation in Knesset committees on behalf of the party.

The party stressed that the decision to remove him was made after internal discussions and that its purpose was to preserve the faction’s unity and coalition discipline. Figures in the faction said Solomon’s conduct was perceived as a complete surprise to his colleagues and that no advance notice had been given of his intention to vote against the official position.

“I cannot betray my conscience.” MK Moshe Solomon / Official website, no credit

MK Moshe Solomon responded to the decision and said he accepts it, but does not retract his position: “I cannot betray my conscience. I cannot look into the eyes of the bereaved families from our community, Religious Zionism, and vote for a law that says there is no need to combine Torah and army service.”

He later added that the decision was personally difficult for him, but one that stemmed from public and moral responsibility: “The decision pains me, I am part of Religious Zionism and will remain part of Religious Zionism, I am loyal to the faction and to joint decisions, but at the same time I am a public representative.”

According to him, throughout the war he accompanied students and graduates of hesder yeshivas and preparatory programs, and stressed that for him this is a profound value-based issue that does not allow him to support the law in its current form. At the end of his remarks, Solomon wrote that he accepts the party chairman’s decision, but hopes to continue influencing from within and change the faction’s position in the future.

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