Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers are expected to back the state budget in its first reading on Wednesday, easing pressure on the coalition after days of confrontation and delays.
The lawmakers had conditioned their support on progress toward legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service. But amid deep disagreements over the draft bill’s legal viability, they received approval from leading Lithuanian rabbinic authorities to vote with the coalition at this stage.
2 View gallery
(Photo: Yair Sagi, Reuven Castro, Amit Shabi, AFP, Alex Kolomoisky, Yoav Dudkevitch, AP)
Not all members of United Torah Judaism are on board. Former housing minister Yitzhak Goldknopf of Agudat Israel has said he opposes supporting the budget even in a first reading, a position also taken by lawmaker Yaakov Tessler. MK Meir Porush has not yet announced his decision, saying he is still reviewing several issues. Even without their support, the coalition is expected to secure enough votes for the budget to pass the first stage.
Earlier, senior Lithuanian rabbi Dov Landau said a final decision on backing the budget would be made only after a meeting with Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth on the draft exemption law. Even before that meeting, it was widely expected that most ultra-Orthodox factions, aside from Agudat Israel, would not move to bring down the government.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid sharply criticized the talks surrounding the exemption bill, accusing coalition figures of exerting improper pressure behind the scenes.
“What’s happening right now in the back rooms of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is completely unhinged,” Lapid said. He alleged that ultra-Orthodox political operatives, together with Bismuth and coalition whip Ofir Katz, were pressing the committee’s legal adviser to approve changes aimed at satisfying ultra-Orthodox parties. Lapid described the process as “horse trading over national security with Netanyahu’s encouragement.”
Meanwhile, procedural delays effectively amounting to a coalition filibuster have continued. Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were initially expected to support the budget earlier this week, with the understanding that the draft exemption law would be advanced in committee within two weeks. Under that arrangement, the budget was not to proceed to committee work after the first reading until the exemption bill had at least been approved by the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
That plan unraveled after a meeting Sunday evening between ultra-Orthodox representatives and the Knesset’s legal adviser, as well as the legal adviser to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. According to officials familiar with the discussion, the lawmakers came away without clear guidance on what version of the law would withstand Supreme Court scrutiny.
Concerns grew among ultra-Orthodox leaders that the gaps were so wide that even if the bill passed, it could be struck down within days. They have sought assurances that any legal challenge would take time and that the Knesset’s legal adviser would defend the law, but have so far remained unconvinced. As a result, they returned to senior rabbis to seek approval to support the budget in the first reading despite the uncertainty.
By law, the budget is required to be presented to the Knesset 60 days before the start of the budget year, a deadline that was not met. The Knesset’s legal adviser has interpreted the rules to require passage of the budget in a first reading at least two months before its final approval in second and third readings.
The final deadline to pass the budget is the end of March. Failure to do so would trigger the automatic dissolution of the Knesset and new elections. With the 60-day window falling this coming weekend, coalition leaders are pushing to hold the first-reading vote on Wednesday to avoid a final budget vote on the eve of Passover and to allow Knesset staff to begin the holiday recess.