Coalition advances key budget bill after enough Haredi MKs walk back revolt plans |
The coalition on Monday narrowly managed to advance key legislation needed to adopt the 2026 state budget, after enough ultra-Orthodox members of the ruling bloc agreed to support the bill that their parties had previously threatened to block.
In order to swiftly advance the legislation known as the Arrangements Law, the coalition decided to split it into two bills, leaving some of the more controversial reforms out of the part that needs to be approved in order to pass the 2026 state budget. If the budget isn’t passed by the end of March, elections are automatically triggered.
While coalition leaders thought they had resolved the issue after the Knesset House Committee agreed to split the Arrangements Law last week, the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties threatened to torpedo the measure due to their frustration over the ruling bloc’s failure to pass legislation granting blanket conscription exemptions to Haredi yeshiva students.
Days of negotiations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the ultra-Orthodox parties eventually succeeded in bearing fruit, however, as the Knesset on Monday approved the House Committee decision by........