Ultra-Orthodox party in Israel backpedals from threat to derail budget over IDF exemption bill

The United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party, one of the ultra-Orthodox parties in the Netanyahu government, signaled on Monday that it would retract its threat to undermine budget negotiations over the military exemption bill for young ultra-Orthodox men.

Leaders of the UTJ party, which opposes military service for its constituency, had previously demanded that the government first pass the law to maintain the military exemption for ultra-Orthodox (Haredim) Israelis before they would agree to resume budget talks.

UTJ Chairman and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf had initially demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postpone the budget talks until the military exemption issue was resolved. However, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced that both Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had insisted that “the state budget must be passed on time, in accordance with the principles of the budget that have already been agreed upon.”

Smotrich who leads the Religious Zionism party, slammed what he called the “irresponsible statements by coalition officials who threaten to oppose the state budget until the conscription law is approved.”

The finance minister also warned that any coalition members who undermined the state budget “will pay a price.”

Smotrich urged the Haredi leaders to “act in a real way to help the war effort and recruit many thousands of members of the ultra-Orthodox community to the IDF and the security forces.”

Prominent rabbis influential within the UTJ party had subsequently directed the political leadership to prioritize the issue of daycare subsidies for ultra-Orthodox children, according to Channel 12 News.

With generally large families and lower incomes, ultra-Orthodox families are disproportionately reliant on state subsidies.

Opposition lawmaker Avigdor Liberman, who heads the secular Yisrael Beytenu party and is a vocal critic of ultra-Orthodox leaders, called for “one clear law: one nation, one draft,” which would apply to all sectors of Israel’s diverse population.

Former Defense Minister and National Unity party chairman, Benny Gantz, took it a step further, urging the government to “impose personal sanctions on anyone who is not included in the exemption quotas and does not serve.”

In August, Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the suspension of daycare funding for ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva students who avoid the military draft.

"The necessary conclusion is that there is no longer any justification to fund the daycare as an incentive for Torah studies for those who are designated for military service but have not shown up to be drafted,” the attorney general’s office said in an official statement.

Many Haredim have been upset by the attorney general’s decision, which they view as a financial punishment for their observant way of life. However, the issue of military exemption for ultra-Orthodox men has divided Israeli society for many years.

Israelis who serve in the military have increasingly voiced the belief that the responsibility of defending the State of Israel should be shared by all. The issue has become even more prominent amid Israel's ongoing conflict with Iran and its terror proxies – Hamas terrorists along the southern border with Gaza and Hezbollah terrorists on the northern border with Lebanon.

Given the threats on multiple fronts, the Israel Defense Forces has argued that it requires more manpower to meet the current and future challenges of defending the nation.

In March, Israel’s High Court issued a landmark ruling requiring the government to stop paying stipends to ultra-Orthodox students eligible for IDF military service.

In recent years, the number of eligible ultra-Orthodox Jewish men serving in the IDF has increased, though the vast majority in the Haredi community still do not participate in military service.