The Knesset voted 63-53 on Wednesday to advance a highly controversial Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel, following a lengthy and heated debate in the plenum.

Sponsored by ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism lawmakers MKs Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Asher, and backed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, the measure is intended to shield draft evaders from sanctions and prosecution. Absent a constitution, Basic Laws in Israel have the highest legal status in the country.

The proposed Basic Law passed its first reading on Wednesday, and will now return to the Knesset House Committee for further deliberation before advancing to the plenum for two final votes before it can pass into law.

The bill forms part of the Haredi parties’ broader legislative push to preserve mass exemptions for yeshiva students from military service by elevating the status of Torah study, including a parallel measure to shield current draft evaders from criminal enforcement after a coalition-backed enlistment bill promoted by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth was shelved in May, amid an impasse between the ultra-Orthodox parties and members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

The vote came after the coalition briefly pulled the legislation from the Knesset agenda earlier Wednesday without explanation before restoring it several hours later, amid last-minute internal coalition opposition, including from lawmakers of the ruling Likud and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, raising questions over whether the coalition had sufficient support to advance it.

The bill was rushed through the Knesset House Committee this week in three marathon sessions, despite sharp objections from legal authorities who asserted that both the substance of the legislation and the legislative process were deeply flawed. The coalition has been seeking to pass the bill into law before the Knesset is expected to dissolve and enter its pre-election recess on July 17.

The proposal has drawn fierce opposition, including from within the coalition, with critics........

© The Times of Israel