Coalition bills removed from agenda as Haredi boycott continues for second week
Multiple private members bills sponsored by coalition lawmakers were removed from the Knesset plenum’s agenda on Wednesday as the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties’ partial legislative boycott entered its second week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies have pledged to block the advancement of private member bills sponsored by their coalition partners to protest the government’s failure to advance a controversial bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment.
Both Shas and UTJ have been pushing for the passage of legislation enshrining military exemptions for yeshiva students and other members of the Haredi community, after the High Court ruled in June last year that the dispensations, in place for decades, were illegal, since they were not based in law.
Among the legislation withdrawn from consideration on Wednesday were bills to dilute the powers of the attorney general and remove the authority of the Supreme Court president to appoint judges to specific cases.
Speaking with the Haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat last week, UTJ lawmaker Yaakov Asher warned that if the Knesset did not pass draft exemption legislation by the end of the summer session, July 27, his party © The Times of Israel
