Overview
- The Knesset approved the bill in a 63–53 first reading on Wednesday, July 1, and referred it to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to prepare text for second and third readings.
- Deputy Attorney General Avital Sompolinsky and the Budget Department said the current wording is largely symbolic and does not change the legal status of yeshiva students or allow a fiscal cost estimate.
- The vote exposed fractures inside the governing coalition with Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein and Dan Illouz and Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon opposing the measure while other coalition MKs supported it.
- Ultra‑Orthodox leaders hailed the move as a restoration of Torah’s status, and reporting says the advancement was tied to political deals that helped secure coalition backing for other overhaul legislation.
- Opposition figures warned they would repeal the law if returned to power and critics said the measure deepens public tensions over draft exemptions, IDF manpower needs, and equality before the law.