by Keshet Neev
Both haredi parties have threatened to withhold support for the state budget unless agreements are reached on the draft law to avoid conscription.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has convened an emergency meeting with Shas Party leader Arye Deri, MK Moshe Gafni from United Torah Judaism, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich after the government postponed the first reading vote of Israel’s 2026 state budget in the Knesset on Monday.
The government postponed the state budget vote amid disagreements with the haredi parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism - over the controversial haredi conscription bill.
Smotich threatened Netanyahu that if the state budget was not brought to a vote on Monday, the Knesset should be dissolved, triggering elections, N12 reported.
The finance minister reportedly said he no longer wants the state budget to be connected to the haredi draft bill negotiations.
Postponing the vote was due to demands from the haredi parties over the draft bill, sources within the United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.
"There are disagreements on a number of sections of the bill," a UTJ source told the Post.
Netanyahu has been without a stable coalition majority since July, following the collapse of negotiations over the haredi conscription legislation, which led haredi parties to exit the government.
Both haredi parties have threatened to withhold support for the state budget unless agreements are reached on the draft law to avoid conscription. They have also threatened to vote against the state budget if the haredi draft bill is not passed beforehand.
The first reading of the state budget vote is part of the high-stakes process that could trigger early elections in the country.
If the state budget is not approved in all three readings by the end of March, when the fiscal year closes, the Knesset will automatically dissolve, and elections will be called.
Lapid: 'We will not allow it to pass'
Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said, "The reason the budget isn’t being brought to a vote on Monday is that the haredi parties realized that the draft-evasion law will not pass. We will not allow it to pass.”
Lapid also asserted that he plans on bringing the bill to dissolve the Knesset to a vote in the plenum on Wednesday.
By law, six months must pass before the Knesset dispersal bill can be brought again to a vote, a period that has now elapsed since the last coalition crisis over the haredi draft bill in June.
Haredi parties ultimately voted with the coalition despite threats to dissolve the Knesset over the draft law, after various agreements were made to change the draft bill.
Critics of the draft bill argue that the current outline fails to enforce haredi conscription and serves primarily as a political measure to appease the haredi parties. The IDF has repeatedly said it is in desperate need of more manpower, especially after over two years of war.
It had been reported on Sunday that the government had made agreements with the haredi parties to allow for the passage of the state budget on Monday.
The government had reportedly persuaded the haredi parties to support the budget in its first reading, with assurances that the draft legislation would advance soon after.
The government is on a limited schedule to bring the state budget for the first reading vote, according to Israeli law.
The law stipulates that at least 60 days must pass between the approval of the state budget’s first reading and its subsequent second and third readings.
This means the bill must clear its first reading this week to make it before the March deadline.
Keshet Neev
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-884565
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