Legal advisers to the Knesset had also warned that the measure violated the principle of equality before the law and undermined the obligation of military service shared by most Jewish Israelis.
"This is no longer the Likud Party. This is a party that has been hijacked"
Following the vote, Dan Illouz MK resigned from the prime minister’s Likud faction, suggesting that it had been "hijacked” by its political alliance with the Charedi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism.
He also alleged that a sizeable portion of the party’s MKs had soured on Netanyahu and backed plans to oust him after October 7.
"I simply cannot call on you to vote for a party that I myself am no longer able to vote for,” he wrote on Facebook.
"The truth is, immediately after October 7, it was clear to everyone that Netanyahu had to end his term.
"Instead of standing before the public and asking for forgiveness, the Likud is doing everything to evade responsibility.
"From evading responsibility for October 7, to promoting schemes exempting Charedi yeshiva students from military service... This is no longer the Likud Party. This is a party that has been hijacked.
"The draft exemption saga is a disgrace that made it clear to me that my place is no longer in the Likud.”
Dan Illouz MK attends plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset on July 15, 2026 (Flash90)Flash90
And he later told Ynet: “When something like October 7 happens, a country that wants to survive cannot simply carry on as usual.
"That also has to be reflected in the leadership, which needs to change. After October 7, that was obvious to a great many Likud members. Some of my colleagues, who today are very busy showing how close they are to Netanyahu, were back then focused on how we could replace him.
"I think at least a third of the Likud faction understood that the right thing for the State of Israel was for the leadership to change. Not through elections, because we were in the middle of an intense war, but through a vote of no confidence.”
How did we get here?
The issue of Charedi conscription has become one of the most divisive in Israeli politics. Last year, the High Court unanimously ruled that there was no legal basis for blanket exemptions for yeshiva students and ordered the government to begin conscripting strictly Orthodox men into the military.
Only a small fraction of the roughly 13,000 Charedi men who reach conscription age each year currently enlist, fuelling growing public anger among reservists and non-Charedi Israelis who argue that the burden of military service is being unfairly shared.
The High Court's intervention now sets the stage for another showdown between the judiciary and Netanyahu's coalition, which relies heavily on Charedi parties for its parliamentary majority.
Meanwhile, the governing coalition has pushed through a number of contentious bills, including one to enshrine Torah study as a core national value within Israel’s Basic Law, ahead of the dissolution of the Knesset in the run-up to the next elections, which are now scheduled for October 27.
Under current polls, Netanyahu would likely have to rely on the Charedim as coalition partners to retain office for another term.
