A legislative initiative championed by Shas chairman Aryeh Deri to end the arrest of bnei yeshivah is facing significant legal obstacles, with senior legal officials reportedly expressing skepticism that the proposal can withstand judicial scrutiny.

According to a report by Kan News, legal experts believe the proposed legislation fails to meet the legal standards and principles required for proper lawmaking. As a result, there is growing speculation that the Knesset’s legal advisers will decline to support the measure.

“This legislative move has no legal viability and is not expected under any circumstances to withstand a High Court challenge,” legal sources reportedly assessed. Based on that evaluation, officials believe the Knesset’s legal counsel is unlikely to back the proposal, which is expected to be advanced as a temporary emergency measure.

The issue of arrests has become a central point of contention between the chareidi parties and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. On Monday, a high-stakes meeting took place between Deri, Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni, and Netanyahu, during which the two chareidi leaders demanded rapid advancement of both the Basic Law protecting Torah study and legislation designed to halt the arrests of Torah learners.

During the meeting, Deri and Gafni reportedly pressed Netanyahu for an explicit commitment that sufficient support would be secured to pass the legislation in the Knesset. The two leaders also warned that if the government failed to move forward immediately on the chareidi legislative agenda, their parties would support dissolving the Knesset and triggering new elections.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Deri and Gafni issued a joint statement declaring: “Today we met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and conveyed to him, in the name of the Gedolei Yisroel, an unequivocal demand to immediately advance the Basic Law of Torah Study and the law to halt the arrests of Torah learners, by convening the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the House Committee already this week.

“We made it clear that if we do not see practical action as we demanded, we will support dissolving the Knesset as early as next week. The Prime Minister made clear during the meeting that he is committed to approving the laws and will act to advance them quickly.”

As previously reported, Deri has spent recent weeks promoting a plan aimed at stopping the arrests by separating portions of the draft law and advancing temporary transitional provisions through expedited legislation.

Under the proposal, the draft law currently before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee would be split, with a one-year temporary measure enacted containing only the transitional provisions. Those provisions would preserve existing economic sanctions while ending arrests and criminal enforcement actions.

According to the Shas proposal, criminal proceedings against Torah learners would be frozen, addressing the situation in which many bnei yeshivah have become classified as lawbreakers due to the absence of legislation regulating their status. Supporters of the plan argue that, given the current political reality, no comprehensive draft law is likely to pass during the coming year and that the issue will ultimately be left for a future government formed after elections.

Deri hopes to advance the temporary measure by splitting it from the broader draft legislation already moving through the legislative process. By doing so, supporters believe the proposal could proceed directly to its final readings in the Knesset rather than beginning an entirely new and potentially lengthy legislative process.