Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition could be forced into fresh elections this week after a key Charedi party confirmed it would vote to dissolve the Knesset on Wednesday.
Shas, which forms the largest Charedi contingent in the government, has announced it will back the move amid a row over attempts to conscript yeshiva students into the IDF.
As it stands, the coalition has a slim margin of just seven seats above the 60 required for a majority – but Shas holds 11 of those.
Party spokesperson Ahser Medina said: “As things stand, we will vote on Wednesday in favour of dissolving the Knesset.
"We are disappointed with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. We expected him to take action previously and not just in the past few days.”
Assuming all opposition parties vote to bring down the government, the party’s support would allow the legislation to comfortable breach the 61 mark – the number needed for it to pass.
Moreover, a further seven seats are held by the equally-disgruntled United Torah Judaism – a union of two Charedi factions – the chair of which is reported to be pushing heavily for dissolution.
The disagreement with Netanyahu, who returned to government in 2022 primarily with the support of the Charedim and the far-right, centres on the new draft bill currently progressing through the Knesset.
So far, the government has not brought forward an amendment, which the Charedim say they were promised, excusing yeshiva students from military service to allow them to continue their studies.
Last year, the Supreme Court struck down a long-running exemption under an informal agreement called Torato Umanuto.
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee is currently examining legislation designed to regulate Charedi conscription, though it’s chair – MK Yuli Edelstein of Netanyahu’s Likud Party – has indicated that it will “significantly increase the IDF’s conscription base” and rejected suggestions that it should place significant restrictions on drafting Charedim.
Crunch meetings between Netanyahu and Edelstein, as well as with Charedi leader, have apparently yielded “good progress” but no concrete changes to the bill have been announced.
The clash has been given extra fuel by the fact that the IDF will begin increasing the number of draft orders it sends to young Charedi men, though a Shas MK also voted with the government to push through a measure allowing the call-up of reservists, which could impact Orthodox communities.
But a number of senior Sephardic rabbis – the community which Shas primarily represents – have signed an acerbic letter in which they expressly forbade Charedi men, whether studying at yeshivot or not, from enlisting.
In response to the Shas announcement, the coalition is reportedly planning to introduce dozens of bills on Wednesday in an attempt to delay the vote. But National Unity chair Benny Gantz, a senior opposition figure and key election contender, has ordered his party to pull all its legislative business for the dat to try and squeeze the debate onto the agenda.
Meanwhile, the IDF has confirmed that the all-Charedi Hasmonean Brigade has become the Orthodox unit to enter operations in Gaza.
The brigade, named after the dynasty that began after the Jews threw off the yoke of Hellenistic rule in the Maccabean Revolt against the Selucid Empire in 141 BCE, requires recruits to follow a strict halachic lifestyle and is commanded by observant soldiers.
Brigade enlistees were asked to sign a document accepting its rules. One clause states that recruits will at all times maintain a religious way of life, be careful to use “clean” speech, keep beards and peyot throughout their service if they entered the army with them and wear Sabbath clothes during Sabbath prayers and meals “as is customary in ultra-Orthodox society”.
All the courses and training for soldiers in the brigade will be conducted internally to avoid mixing with non-Orthodox units.
