The Knesset’s legal advisor, Sagit Afik, warned on Tuesday that the coalition’s advancing bill that seeks to ensure Torah Study in the country’s Basic Law could cause haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Torah students – many of whom evade military service – to receive benefits that IDF reservists are eligible for.
Afik made the remarks during a lengthy House Committee meeting to advance the bill, in which a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) blasted lawmakers for advancing the legislation, telling them that they were “squabbling like a bunch of little girls who were handed microphones.”
“What is wrong with you? How do you run a country like this?” he shouted and pointed to 107 veterans also dealing with post-trauma.
“My friends sit here every day, and it’s a crime what you’re doing to them – all of you here. Every day they cry. Hugging us in the hallways doesn’t do anything. If I gave each and every one of you the footage from my GoPro of the bodies, you wouldn’t sleep at night.”
The Basic Law: Torah Study bill is part of a proposal that critics argue encourages draft evasion and changes the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits, even amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis. It passed its first reading of the three required last week.
The Knesset legal advisor said that the legislation, in its current form, could result in Torah students receiving the same academic aid benefits granted to reservists.
“צריך לתקן את הנוסח, שיהיה הצהרתי” – יועמ”שית הכנסת התייחסה להשפעה האפשרית של החוק על הטבת “ממדים ללימודים”
🏛️מתוך הדיון בנושא הצעת חוק יסוד: לימוד תורה@OfirKatzMK https://t.co/934C7IERiE pic.twitter.com/0tRpCqM9B9
— ערוץ כנסת 99 (@KnessetT) July 7, 2026
Afik told the panel that it was necessary to fix the legislation’s outline so that the wording would be “declarative in nature.”
Bill calls Torah study ‘fundamental value’
Other wording in the proposal emphasizes Torah study as “a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people and in the State of Israel.”
It proposes that the country recognize “Torah study as a fundamental value in the State of Israel in order to create a balance of justice in relation to other fundamental values in the state.”
The existing wording, enshrined in the country’s Basic Law, is expected to facilitate the granting of benefits and rights to haredi men who evade service.
There had also been contentious wording in the bill’s proposal equating those who study Torah with those who serve in the IDF, which has now been removed in the new draft of the legislation.
Opponents argue that the legislation’s implications could implicitly allow such a comparison, despite the earlier change in wording.
Lawmakers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have publicly opposed the legislation and voted against it.
Marathon meetings in the Knesset’s House Committee to fast-track the legislation took place last month after haredi party leaders boycotted coalition voting and disrupted the legislative agenda.
The threats were made to pressure Netanyahu’s coalition to rapidly advance a series of haredi-backed bills.
Bill to freeze haredi draft dodger arrests
Another bill being debated in the Knesset on Tuesday proposes freezing arrests of haredi draft evaders.
The tensions come as the coalition races to advance its legislative agenda during the Knesset’s final session, expected to end in mid-July, ahead of elections scheduled for no later than October 27.
The Basic Law: Torah Study bill was sponsored by MK Moshe Gafni, of the United Torah Judaism Party, along with other haredi MKs, and had also received government backing ahead of its preliminary reading last month.
After passing its first reading last week by a margin of 63 votes in favor and 53 against, it will continue to be debated in the House Committee before moving forward with its final readings.
Netanyahu arrived at the plenum to vote in favor of the legislation in its first reading.
The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage after more than two years of war.
