Overview
- The Knesset passed the Basic Law: Torah Study on Monday, enshrining “Torah study” as a foundational national value in a narrowed text that removes an explicit equation with military service.
- The parliament approved a separate arrest-freeze law on Tuesday that bars arrests and investigations of yeshiva students for draft evasion for a limited period and passed by a narrow majority.
- IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Knesset legal advisers publicly warned the arrest freeze undermines equality, damages trust in military manpower planning, and risks violating legal norms.
- Leading Sephardic roshei yeshiva and other rabbinic authorities condemned the arrest-freeze framework for creating intrusive oversight, inspection and reporting duties that they say threaten yeshiva autonomy and student welfare.
- Opponents filed immediate petitions with the High Court and political and market signals show rising instability, leaving the coalition racing to pass measures before likely dissolution and early elections.