Netanyahu Promised Deri Haredi Laws, Then Dissolved Knesset

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally assured Shas chairman Aryeh Deri last week that he would secure the votes needed to pass two critical pieces of Haredi legislation, the Torah Study Basic Law and a temporary measure halting arrests of yeshiva students. only to move days later toward dissolving the Knesset without advancing either bill, according to sources familiar with the closed-door meeting.

The private commitment, made during a one-on-one session last Wednesday, has now become the flashpoint in a coalition crisis that threatens to paralyze all government legislation. Deri convened the meeting specifically to determine whether the dramatic laws protecting the Torah world would actually pass in the current Knesset term, sources confirmed to Kikar HaShabbat.

During the session, Netanyahu pledged that both bills would advance through second and third readings before the Knesset's dissolution. More significantly, the prime minister personally guaranteed he would deliver the necessary majority in the plenum to ensure passage, a commitment that now appears hollow as coalition leaders actively block the legislation's progress.

The revelation that the coalition is stalling the bills prompted Deri to announce a total freeze on all coalition legislation during Monday's Shas faction meeting. "We informed the coalition chairman that as long as the arrest-halt law and the Torah Study Basic Law are not advanced, we will not support any coalition legislation," Deri declared to faction members, according to reports from the session.

Gafni's frustration boiled over during the committee session, where he demanded clarity on whether the coalition genuinely intended to pass the Torah Study Basic Law if it were transferred from the Constitution Committee to the Knesset Committee. "I am announcing to you unequivocally: I do not intend to be humiliated once more," he declared, marking his breaking point after months of unfulfilled coalition promises.

Gafni also warned the Knesset Committee that no legislation would advance without concrete assurances on the daycare subsidy law.

Netanyahu removes controversial section from the Law (Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)

The coalition crisis comes as Netanyahu prepares to dissolve the Knesset as early as this week, leaving the Haredi parties without any of their legislative priorities after three and a half years in government. Senior Haredi officials privately acknowledged the political failure, with one telling Kikar HaShabbat: "We failed at everything. We have nothing to show our voters."

The immediate casualty of the Haredi freeze is Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi's controversial media reform bill, which now faces certain defeat without Haredi support. Senior figures in both Shas and United Torah Judaism confirmed they would block the legislation until their own priorities advance. Agudat Yisrael MKs announced they would vote against Karhi's bill on substantive grounds, independent of the broader coalition standoff.

"It is inconceivable that the prime minister closes out a term and fails over three and a half years to pass even one significant law for Haredi Judaism," a senior Haredi faction official stated. "What kind of partnership is this?"

Deri also addressed the recent wave of violent arrests targeting yeshiva students during Monday's faction meeting, declaring that such operations must cease immediately. The arrests have become a rallying point for Haredi activists, who are organizing a massive slow-moving car convoy to Prison 10 on Wednesday evening in protest of the detentions.

The coalition's failure to deliver on Haredi legislation represents a dramatic reversal from Netanyahu's initial commitments upon forming the government. The Torah Study Basic Law, intended to enshrine Torah learning as a protected value in Israeli law, and the temporary arrest-halt measure, designed to shield yeshiva students from military police operations, were both presented as core coalition agreements.

With the Knesset dissolution now imminent and the Haredi parties blocking all coalition legislation, Netanyahu faces the prospect of entering new elections having delivered nothing to his most loyal coalition partners, with Trump having turned on Israel at the same time.

His Haredi caolition are both furious and disappointed with him, and the rest of Israel is anxious and dismayed by Trump's new Israel stance. Will he be able to survive?

It's anyone's guess.