Netanyahu, Smotrich announce freeze on bill exempting Haredim from military service

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday evening that the government would suspend efforts to advance a bill exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service for now, citing the demands and financial pressures of the war.

In a joint video statement, Netanyahu and Smotrich said they had decided to “set the law aside at this stage” as the government prepares to approve a major increase in the defence budget, including the transfer of tens of billions of shekels to the military.

Netanyahu said the war required directing large financial resources to defence spending. “There was no doubt that we had to go out to this battle,” he said, adding: “But war costs money, a lot of money, and therefore we need to allocate a special budget during the war period.”

The government is expected to hold a meeting later at night to approve a rise of several billion shekels in the defence budget. The plan also includes a 3 per cent across-the-board cut to the budgets of all other government ministries to help fund this increase.

Smotrich said the war had pushed disagreements within the governing coalition aside, adding that discussion of the bill to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service would be postponed, along with “several other reforms for which broad consensus has not yet been reached.”

READ: Haredim threaten Netanyahu over army exemption law