The Knesset House Committee voted 10-4 to advance for its first Knesset reading a proposed Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel, subject to a vote on several revisions, following a heated debate.

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, which includes a parallel measure to shield current draft evaders from criminal enforcement.

The proposed basic law is expected to have its first plenum vote on Wednesday, with the coalition aiming to pass it into law before the Knesset is expected to begin its pre-election recess in the coming weeks.

Promoted by the ultra-Orthodox parties, the legislation 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.

“Torah study is what has preserved us throughout the entire history of the Jewish people, and now, in the Jewish state as well, Torah study will receive the status it deserves,” said United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, a co-sponsor of the legislation, celebrating its advancement.

UTJ chair Yitzhak Goldknopf said during the committee meeting that the bill is needed because “Jews are arresting Jews for studying Torah” and claims that yeshiva students are being treated like “thieves” and “Hamas terrorists.”

Deputy Attorney General Avital Sompolinsky sharply criticized the measure, arguing that it contains too many unresolved constitutional questions to proceed to a first reading, after the coalition rushed it through several marathon committee sessions this week.

“It’s impossible to move to a first reading before answering the question of what the purpose of the law is,” she said.

Sompolinsky argued that if, as the bill’s sponsors have indicated, it is intended to address the status of the ultra-Orthodox in Israeli society, then it requires a broader discussion of “rights and obligations,” but that “the bill as currently drafted does not answer” these fundamental questions.

Opposition lawmakers roundly denounced the legislation as a political maneuver to circumvent High Court rulings invalidating blanket exemptions from military service.

“This is a cynical attempt to rush through a Basic Law that would grant Torah scholars a special status,” said Yesh Atid MK Moshe Turpaz, who was ejected from the committee discussion by........

© The Times of Israel