Haredi partys Degel Hatorah faction claims coalition repeatedly violated commitments to care for status of yeshiva students; Edelstein said refusing further concessions on bill
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Sam Sokol
16 July 2025
Members of the United Torah Judaism party's Degel Hatorah faction write letters of resignation in Knesset Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni's office. (Courtesy)
The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party quit both the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition on Monday evening as part of an ongoing struggle over the conscription of yeshiva students.
The party's Degel Hatorah faction was the first to announce its withdrawal, with a spokesman for the faction's spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Lando, declaring in a statement that in accordance with [the rabbi's] instructions, Degel Hatorah Knesset members will leave the government and coalition today.
Accusing the government of seeking to increase the hardship of the lives of Torah students and repeatedly failing to fulfill their obligations to regulate the legal status of the dear yeshiva students, Lando stated in an accompanying letter that participation in the government and the coalition should be immediately terminated, including immediate resignation from all positions.
In a subsequent statement, the faction's Knesset delegation accused Netanyahu's government of having repeatedly violated its commitments to care for the status of yeshiva students adding that all its members have now announced their resignation from the coalition and the government.
Degel Hatorah was soon joined by UTJ's Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction.
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush explained that the decision to resign was made after viewing a new Haredi conscription bill Monday, which he asserted did not satisfy the demands of the faction and its spiritual leaders.
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush in the Knesset plenum, April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Among those resigning as part of UTJ's exit we're Knesset Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni, Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush.
Their resignations will take 48 hours to come into effect, giving Netanyahu time to attempt to convince them to reverse course.
A long-delayed bill
UTJ's withdrawal followed its threat, earlier Monday, to leave the coalition unless it was presented with a draft of a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein has long blocked the passage of a government-backed bill enshrining the broad exclusion from IDF service for Haredi men. He agreed, however, last month to soften some of the harsh sanctions included in his proposed legislation, in a last-minute deal with Shas and UTJ to prevent them from voting in favor of an opposition-backed bill to disperse the Knesset and call early elections, in the days ahead of the war with Iran.
But as Edelstein's new, watered-down version of the bill failed to materialize in recent days, having been pulled from the committee's agenda for this week, the Haredi parties began to run out of patience.
Speaking with The Times of Israel ahead of UTJ's weekly faction meeting on Monday afternoon, Motti Babchik, a senior adviser to chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, said that the ultra-Orthodox party was headed toward an exit from the coalition.
Were dragging everybody out, he said, a sentiment shared by other party insiders and lawmakers.
Then-housing minister Yitzchak Goldknopf, right, and his senior adviser Motti Babchik arrive at United Torah Judaism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 17, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Initially, Edelstein was not planning on presenting his bill to the Haredim on Monday, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel. However, he ended up meeting with representatives of Degel Hatorah under pressure from Netanyahu, who came straight from his criminal trial in Tel Aviv to the Knesset in an attempt to alleviate the crisis.
Avraham Friend, a reporter for the ultra-Orthodox Behadrei Haredim news site, reported that the bill presented to Degel Hatorah contained several provisions unacceptable to the Haredim, including only granting exemptions to yeshiva students after they finish the IDF induction process and requiring students to sign in and out of their yeshivas using a fingerprint scanner.
Edelstein's office did not comment on the talks, though the Ynet news site quoted him vowing he would not agree to further concessions.
As I've always said, I won't have an evasion law, only an enlistment law, he reportedly told associates.
Shas remains
While UTJ followed through on its threat to bolt the coalition, fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas has yet to do so, despite reportedly issuing its own ultimatum on Sunday. The Sephardic party has not publicly weighed in on the Ashkenazi UTJs exit or said if and when it will follow suit.
With only seven seats, UTJ is not large enough to topple the government which holds 68 out of 120 Knesset mandates on its own. Were Shas to quit as well, the coalition would lose its majority, falling to 50 seats.
Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri speak in the Knesset, December 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Even if Shas also leaves the government, however, the two Haredi parties are reportedly uninterested in toppling the coalition at this juncture. The upcoming three-month Knesset recess, which starts on July 27, would give Netanyahu time to try to come to an agreement while ruling with a minority government.
If that too proves unsuccessful, and the legislation remains stalled, Shas and UTJ will then move to dissolve the government, the national broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday.
Criticizing Netanyahu on Monday evening, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tweeted that the prime minister was doing everything to pass a disgraceful draft-dodging law while the country is at a war, with the coalition maneuvering on Monday evening coming as the military announced three more soldiers we're killed during fighting in the Gaza Strip.