Israeli Experts Condemn New Basic Law on Torah Study as Electoral Bribe Despite Softened Wording

Israeli constitutional law experts and former senior public officials have strongly criticized the recently softened "Basic Law: Torah Study," approved for its second and third readings on Thursday evening, labeling it a clear electoral bribe. They argue the law is corrupt and will institutionalize widespread exemptions from IDF service and extensive financial support for the ultra-Orthodox community, severely undermining efforts to achieve equal burden sharing in Israel.

The critics describe the legislation as divisive and damaging to the IDF and soldiers' families, especially given its timing just before the Knesset recess and upcoming elections. They reject claims that the softened version of the law is merely declarative, citing the precedent of the "Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty," which was also initially presented as declarative but has since underpinned numerous landmark Supreme Court rulings. They emphasize that a new Basic Law is always a foundational event, particularly on a contentious issue and so close to elections.

The experts also fault the Knesset legal advisor, Shagit Afik, for not clearly highlighting the law's serious flaws, the dangers of passing sectoral laws near elections, and its questionable legality. They stress that governance, exemption from military service, and equal burden sharing are not commodities to be bought or sold, calling electoral bribery one of the gravest and most dangerous offenses in Israeli law.

The controversy centers on the coalition's push, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party at the request of ultra-Orthodox factions, to enshrine legal grounds for additional state funding to the Haredi community and exemptions from military conscription. Coalition chairman Ofir Katz announced a compromise with the ultra-Orthodox parties, removing a clause balancing competing values from the bill, rendering it declarative only. This concession came after Netanyahu and Katz warned that failure to soften the text would halt the bill's progress.

Nonetheless, the softened law still recognizes Torah study as a "fundamental value," potentially enabling the ultra-Orthodox to argue in future Supreme Court cases that Torah study holds equal weight to the principle of equality, thereby supporting continued exemptions from IDF service.