Overview
- The Knesset voted 63–53 to pass the bill in its first reading on Wednesday and referred the measure to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to draft language for second and third readings.
- Deputy Attorney General Avital Sompolinsky told lawmakers the current wording is largely declarative, does not specifically address yeshiva students, and does not change the existing legal situation around military draft or arrests.
- The vote highlighted fractures inside the governing coalition as some Likud and Religious Zionism MKs opposed the bill while chareidi parties and other coalition members backed it, and reports say the advance was tied to deals Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made with ultra-Orthodox leaders.
- The Finance Ministry’s Budget Department said it cannot estimate fiscal costs because the bill does not set out concrete obligations for government bodies or funding for yeshivas.
- The next steps are committee drafting and further Knesset votes that could alter the bill’s substance, and opponents have vowed repeal or legal challenges while supporters say the law affirms Torah’s national status even if immediate legal effects are limited.