A major rift is widening between the chareidi parties and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the issue of yeshiva student enlistment, as political tensions rise amid new enforcement threats from the IDF. According to a Hebrew report on Kan News, top chareidi leaders tried to reach the prime minister—currently abroad in the U.S.—in protest of a directive from the army to ramp up draft enforcement, but Netanyahu did not take their calls. Instead, his aides relayed a message: “I’m pushing on this. I’ll deal with it upon my return.”
Meanwhile, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein has introduced yet another delay in the legislative process surrounding the draft law. A report by journalist Dafna Liel revealed that Edelstein is considering presenting the draft law to the IDF for review before formally submitting it to the committee—a move that could open the door to further changes and postpone the bill’s progression beyond the current Knesset summer session.
Edelstein, citing a severe case of the flu, postponed this week’s planned committee discussion. As a result, time is running out to pass the legislation before the Knesset recess.
In response to the delay, the chareidi parties—Shas and United Torah Judaism—have escalated their protest by intensifying their voting boycott in the Knesset, including against coalition-sponsored bills. A meeting between Edelstein and MK Ariel Attias reportedly ended in tension, with chareidi representatives accusing Edelstein of reneging on agreements made in the aftermath of the Iranian attack, when the draft bill was postponed.
MK Yitzchak Goldknopf, chairman of United Torah Judaism, slammed the government’s handling of the crisis: “The persecution of Torah learners continues because the government is failing to uphold its coalition agreements. We demand that the prime minister immediately regularize the status of yeshiva students.”
Senior chareidi officials also criticized Edelstein’s dealings with the committee’s legal advisor. “He said the law’s language was finalized—and now it’s stuck. It’s a joke. They tried to distract us with the batei din bill—we didn’t fall for it,” one said.
On the other side, Likud MK Dan Illouz accused the chareidim of extortion: “This is political blackmail. They escalated the boycott precisely when Netanyahu left for a historic diplomatic mission.” Illouz urged Edelstein, “Don’t move forward with any legislation while the boycott continues. Let them work with the laws that already exist.”
Earlier today, Minister of Yerushalayim Affairs and Jewish Tradition Meir Porush took to the Knesset podium to lambast Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for authorizing what he called a “bizarre enforcement campaign” by the IDF against the Olam HaTorah.
Porush said, “If we look back—even before the State was founded—when the United Nations debated the establishment of a Jewish state, the voice of the religious public was represented by Agudas Yisroel. There wasn’t a consensus. There were disagreements. We didn’t then, and we don’t now, view it as a redemption or a solution to all problems. But our gedolim made one thing clear: We wouldn’t oppose the state as long as we could maintain our way of life—Torah, education, identity. The status quo.”
He continued, “We didn’t say that out of naiveté. We knew the government wouldn’t always be on our side. But we had the Knesset, elections, opposition, and a voice. A system with checks and balances. What do we have now? Who’s even asking us? Who’s asking Bibi? Is there still balance? Or is the country run by one person—by the attorney general?”
Porush’s voice rose in anger as he declared, “If back then we had been told that the day would come when Torah could no longer be learned in Eretz Yisroel, and yeshiva bochurim would be arrested for learning—just because that’s what the attorney general wants—I believe Agudas Yisroel would have said: we don’t want a Jewish state.”
He warned, “Anyone who thinks they can twist the arm of the chareidi community and say: go register, go enlist, change your path—they are terribly mistaken.”
In a blistering conclusion, Porush said, “This attorney general will be remembered for disgrace—for forcing the IDF to cross red lines and take steps that will irreparably tear apart our connection to the chareidi public. This crisis won’t be solved by court orders or decrees. It needs the spirit of Yitzchak Navon: listening, understanding, sensitivity, and caution.”
He ended with a powerful message: “With all due respect to the heritage center, if Yitzchak Navon were here today, he would say—Let us live together. Let Torah continue. Let bochurim learn. Respect the old agreements. Don’t drag this country into a crisis from which no one knows how we’ll emerge.”
Chareidi party leaders Moshe Gafni (Degel HaTorah) and Aryeh Deri (Shas) echoed that fury.
Gafni said, “Baharav-Miara has declared herself the chief enemy of the Olam HaTorah, of Torah learners, of those who uphold the Jewish people. We won’t allow even a single bochur to be stopped from learning. History has shown time and again what happens to those who tried to halt Torah study.”
Deri was no less forceful: “The draconian guidelines published by the attorney general against Torah learners in the Jewish state are a disgrace and a sign of governmental collapse. Treating bnei yeshiva like criminals should shock every Jew who loves and honors the Torah. We won’t allow anyone to interfere with a ben yeshiva’s right to immerse himself in Torah.”
{Matzav.com Israel}