Jerusalem, 23 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s government on Sunday approved a series of temporary ministerial appointments to fill posts left vacant after the country’s Orthodox parties quit the coalition.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin will assume responsibility for the Labor, Religious Services and Jerusalem ministries. Levin, who is already serving as Interior Minister, will hand that portfolio to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on an interim basis.
While the Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties are no longer part of the government, they have agreed to support the Cabinet reshuffle.
The Knesset is scheduled to vote on the arrangement on Monday.
Levin is not the only minister taking on multiple roles. Haim Katz currently leads the Construction and Housing, Tourism, Health and Welfare ministries, reflecting the government’s continued reliance on overlapping appointments during a period of political flux.
Legislation currently in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee seeks to formalize Orthodox community exemptions from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth has indicated that the revised draft is expected to continue exempting full-time yeshiva students from military service for the foreseeable future.
The military began making plans to draft yeshiva students after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that exemptions for the Haredi community were illegal.
Haredi Orthodox men in Israel are generally exempt from mandatory military service if they study full-time in religious seminaries, known as yeshivot. The issue has long divided Israeli society and remains politically sensitive, especially during wartime. Shas and UTJ insist on preserving these exemptions as a matter of religious principle and community identity.
However, public opposition has grown. After two years of war, many Israelis view the policy as unequal.
Military service is compulsory for all Israeli citizens. However, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, and the country’s leading rabbis agreed to a status quo that deferred military service for Haredi men studying in yeshivot, or religious institutions. At the time, no more than several hundred men were studying in yeshivot.
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