Agudat Yisrael denies report of Hasidic meeting on a 48-signature draft demand

Senior Hasidic rabbis met at the home of the son of the Slonim Rebbe to draw up the conditions their community would set in negotiations over exempting yeshiva students from military service, according to political commentator Amit Segal. Segal wrote on his Telegram channel that the gathering took place two days before his report and included a prominent Hasidic rebbe, representatives of the Gur and Vizhnitz courts, and other rabbis. He added that a document from the meeting suggests there has already been contact with the Attorney General, a claim he presented as alleged.

Within hours, Agudat Yisrael, the Hasidic party in the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism alliance, issued a denial. In a joint statement, Knesset member Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf, associated with Gur, and Rabbi Yaakov Tessler, associated with Vizhnitz, said they were unaware of any meeting about the draft law and that no representatives of theirs had attended such a meeting or discussions of that kind, N12 reported.

The reported demands

According to a second post by Segal, the rabbis want every one of the 48 members of what he called the "change bloc" to personally sign a pledge to back an exemption from military conscription. They also want an override clause, a legislative device that would allow the Knesset to keep the exemption in force if Israel's High Court of Justice strikes it down. Segal said the model the rabbis have in mind is the override clause passed under Yitzhak Rabin's government to keep a ban on importing pork in place.

A version of the report carried on N12's news channel, also attributed to Segal and first aired on the network's main evening newscast, framed the talks as negotiations with the parties of the "Eisenkot bloc", a reference to the camp associated with former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. That version listed three demands: deferral of military service for every man for whom Torah study is his occupation, signatures on a commitment to legislate the exemption, and an override clause.

What the terms mean

The phrase rendered here as "Torah study is his occupation" refers to a long-standing arrangement under which full-time yeshiva students in the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, community defer and in practice avoid conscription into the Israel Defense Forces. Whether that arrangement should continue, and in what legal form, is one of the most divisive questions in Israeli politics, and courts have repeatedly scrutinised attempts to anchor it in law.

An override clause would let a parliamentary majority re-enact a law after the High Court of Justice has invalidated it. Israel has no general mechanism of this kind, which is why the reported demand points to a specific precedent: a clause attached to a single law. Seeking signatures from individual lawmakers, rather than relying on a party commitment, would bind each member personally to support the exemption.

Who is involved

Hasidic Judaism is organised into courts, each led by a rebbe, sometimes called an admor in Hebrew. Gur and Vizhnitz are among the largest and most politically influential courts, and both are represented in Agudat Yisrael's leadership, as the joint statement from Goldknopf and Tessler reflects. Slonim is another Hasidic court. United Torah Judaism combines Agudat Yisrael with Degel HaTorah, which represents non-Hasidic Haredi Jews.

The denial

The full Agudat Yisrael statement, as posted by Segal, said the party was responding to reports published that evening. Beyond denying knowledge of the meeting, it said United Torah Judaism is working jointly and responsibly to resolve the status of yeshiva students, following the instructions of the generation's leading rabbis. The statement did not address the specific demands or the reported contact with the Attorney General.

Where the accounts differ

The reports are not fully consistent with the denial or with each other. Segal's Telegram post says representatives of Gur and Vizhnitz took part, while the N12 version describes the participants as Agudat Yisrael rabbis. Goldknopf and Tessler, speaking for the party and for figures linked to those same two courts, say none of their representatives were present. The two versions of Segal's report also differ in emphasis: one cites signatures from 48 members of a "change bloc" supporting an exemption, the other a deferral of service and a commitment to legislate.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not name the rebbe who attended or the individuals said to represent Gur and Vizhnitz, and they do not publish the document Segal cites. No response from the Attorney General's office, from Eisenkot or from any party in the bloc he is associated with has been reported, and Degel HaTorah has not been quoted on the matter.