Overview
- The Knesset plenum approved the Basic Law: Torah Study on Monday, July 13, by a 63–52 vote and the Movement for Quality Government filed a petition with the Supreme Court within minutes seeking to overturn it.
- A Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee advanced a separate bill to freeze arrests of yeshiva students for 90 days that conditions protection on affidavits, inspections and review by a special military committee.
- Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik warned the bills were pushed through improperly and said the arrest‑freeze is unbalanced because it could effectively exempt many ultra‑Orthodox men from IDF service.
- Leading Sephardic roshei yeshiva publicly denounced the arrests‑freeze, saying its inspection, reporting and sanction rules would give the state sweeping control over yeshivos and turn school leaders into de facto informants.
- Both measures are part of an 84‑hour coalition push to pass nine bills before Knesset dissolution, and their fate now likely rests with fast‑moving court challenges that could shape future rulings on equality and conscription.