The Agudat Yisrael faction of the haredi United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party on Thursday evening sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, emphasizing that it will not support the budget if the Draft Law is not legislated.
The letter was signed by UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, MK Yaakov Tesler, and MK Moshe Shimon Roth.
The letter refers to the coalition agreement signed on December 28, 2022, between the United Torah Judaism faction and the Likud party, which included a commitment to regulate the status of yeshiva students through legislation that would grant them an exemption from IDF enlistment.
The letter claims that despite the coalition agreement, the government has yet to advance the required legislation, and even the budget approved for 2023 did not include the necessary funding to regulate the status of yeshiva students.
Agudat Yisrael warned that if a legal arrangement is not implemented by the time the 2025 budget is approved, yeshiva students could face a situation where they are exposed to criminal proceedings due to their non-enlistment.
The letter calls on the Prime Minister to uphold his commitments and ensure that the necessary legislation is passed as soon as possible. The signatories demand that until the legislative process is completed, the status of yeshiva students be temporarily regulated within a governmental framework, ensuring that no measures are taken against them due to their military status.
The Knesset members concluded their letter with a firm statement, declaring that, in accordance with the directives of their rabbis, they will vote against the budget as long as the status of yeshiva students remains unresolved.