The State on Sunday informed the Supreme Court that the cancellation of National Insurance (Bituach Leumi) payment discounts for yeshiva students who do not serve in the IDF will take effect on January 1, 2026.
The discount, currently amounting to approximately 67% off National Insurance contributions, is granted to married and unmarried yeshiva students. It will be fully revoked in two and a half months.
In its statement to the Court, the State wrote: “Following the completion of discussions among the relevant authorities regarding the necessary transition period and examining the time required for individual preparations and adjustments to the National Insurance Institute systems, the State respondents will be ready to implement the updated legal interpretation of Section 348(h) of the National Insurance Law on January 1, 2026.”
The move is a direct response to a Supreme Court ruling in early September, in which the Court accepted a petition filed by the Movement for Quality Government and ordered an end to the discounts granted to yeshiva students who are not serving in the military.
The petition argued that “in the absence of a normative framework permitting the non-service in the IDF by students in Torah institutions students, there must not continue to be a transfer of supportive funds to students who are not exempt from enlistment.”
The haredi public strongly condemned the decision: On Monday, the haredi daily Hamevaser quoted prominent officials as saying, “After harming children in daycare, cutting yeshiva budgets, and arresting Torah learners, they are now seeking to persecute the students themselves and choke the world of Torah until it is destroyed.”
“Instead of recognizing the fundamental right of the Jewish people to engage in Torah study, they are turning it into a crime for which you must pay a fine.”
They further described the move as “a broad economic revenge campaign.”
“First they harmed Torah institutions, then parents by slashing daycare subsidies, and now they are directly attacking the yeshiva students themselves. They are trying to turn a Torah lifestyle into an option which is economically unsustainable, with the clear intention of breaking the haredi public from within.”