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Spiritual leaders of ultra-Orthodox party instruct lawmakers to leave the Netanyahu government and to draft bill dissolving the Knesset; Opposition gears up to back effort to topple the Coalition.
By: David Rosenberg – World Israel News
The spiritual leaders of one of the Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties has instructed lawmakers to withdraw from the Netanyahu government and to move forward with legislation aimed at dissolving the Knesset and forcing early elections.
Senior ultra-Orthodox officials from the United Torah Judaism faction met with Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) Tuesday evening in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement on passage of a new draft law, reestablishing draft deferments for full-tie yeshiva students.
The prior law, struck down by the Supreme Court in 2017, lapsed last year after the court refused to grant additional extensions for the government to pass a replacement bill.
In a landmark ruling, the court ordered the Defense Ministry to immediately begin drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who had hitherto enjoyed the annu
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to pass a new law restoring the draft deferments – with minor changes – some members of his own coalition government have objected, including Edelstein, a rival within Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Agudat Yisrael, one of two factions within the United Torah Judaism party, representing the Hasidic ultra-Orthodox community, issued an ultimatum recently, demanding that the government agree by Tuesday to pass a new draft law or else lose the UTJ’s support.
UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, who serves as Housing Minister and leads the Agudat Yisrael faction, called on the UTJ’s other faction, Degel HaTorah, and the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party to join in efforts to topple the government.
The Coalition currently enjoys a comfortable majority of 68 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
It could easily survive the withdrawal of Agudat Yisrael’s four MKs, and would narrowly survive the departure of the entire seven-MK UTJ delegation.
However, without the support of Shas, the government would lose its majority in the Knesset.
Following pressure from Goldknopf, Degel HaTorah representatives attempted to reach an accord with Edelstein overnight, but were unable to make any progress.
On Wednesday, Hebrew media outlets reported that Rabbi Dov Landau, a senior spiritual leader for the Degel HaTorah faction, has ordered lawmakers to leave the government and press for snap elections, while another Degel HaTorah rabbinic authority, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, is poised to follow suit.
Should both Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael follow through with their threats, the Netanyahu government’s majority will shrink from 68 seats to a bare minimum of 61.
Opposition parties including Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beytenu, and The Democrats, are preparing to capitalize on the coalition crisis to attempt to topple the government, with plans to submit a bill next Wednesday calling for the dissolution of the Knesset.
The government tensions have split the Likud itself, with some officials taking aim at the ultra-Orthodox parties, while others blame Edelstein for the crisis.
“Edelstein’s political stubbornness is dragging all of us into elections during a decisive military operation in Gaza, while the hostages are still in Hamas captivity, and with the background threat of Iran’s nuclear program,” one senior Likud official said.
“This is madness and utter irresponsibility — all driven by narrow political considerations and personal vindictiveness.”
MK Tally Gotliv, however, excoriated UTJ lawmakers over their threats, and dismissed warnings that Shas could help UTJ topple the government.
“The government will not fall and the Knesset will not be dissolved. Calm down. I am ashamed of the ultra-Orthodox who dare, in a time of war, to harm the stability of the government.”
“Let there be no doubt — the coalition will manage even with 61 seats. Gafni will no longer chair the Finance Committee, Goldknopf will no longer be Housing Minister.”
“To all who are wondering — Shas is not silent for no reason. Shas voters are right-wingers, and Shas has no mandate to bring down the government. Shas understands that its voters’ support is at risk of shifting to the Otzma [Yehudit] party.”
On Wednesday, Degel HaTorah faction chief MK Moshe Gafni, who heads the Knesset’s powerful Finance Committee, appeared to confirm reports of his party’s impending departure, telling committee members that claims that this could be the final session of the committee under his chairmanship “were not baseless.”