In a major political blow, a key partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition has announced that it is quitting the coalition, leaving the Israeli Prime Minister with a minority in parliament.
The Ultra-Orthodox Shas party disclosed that that it was leaving the coalition government in protest against lawmakers’ failure to guarantee future exemption from military conscription for religious students.
The group said in a statement, “Shas representatives … find with a heavy heart that they cannot stay in the government and be a part of it.”
Also, Shas Cabinet Minister, Michael Malkieli said in announcing the party’s decision, “In this current situation, it’s impossible to sit in the government and to be a partner in it.”
Shas, which has long served as a kingmaker in Israeli politics, said that it wouldn’t work to undermine the coalition once outside it and could vote with it on some laws. It also wouldn’t support its collapse.
The departure of Shas comes one day after another ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), resigned from the government over the same issue, which has sparked an explosive debate in the country after more than 21 months of war with Hamas in Gaza.
While ultra-Orthodox seminary students have long been exempt from mandatory military service, many Israelis are angered by what they see as an unfair burden carried by the mainstream who serve.
A decades-old arrangement by Israel’s first Prime Minister granted hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men exemptions from compulsory Israeli service.
Over the years, those exemptions ballooned into the thousands and created deep divisions in Israel. The issue of exemptions has long divided the country. Those rifts have only widened since the start of the war in Gaza as demand for military manpower has grown and hundreds of soldiers have been killed.
Meanwhile, Ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders say that full-time devotion to holy scriptures study is sacrosanct and fear their young men will steer away from religious life if they are drafted into the military.
However, most Jewish Israelis see the exemption as unfair, as well as the generous government stipends granted to many ultra-Orthodox men who study instead of work throughout adulthood. That bitterness has only worsened during nearly two years of war.
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered an end to the exemption. Parliament has been trying to work out a new conscription bill, which has so far failed to meet the demands of both Shas and UTJ.
According to a report in the Times of Israel, Religious Services Minister, Michael Malkieli, a member of Shas, that rabbis were angered after Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Chairman, Yuli Edelstein reneged on promises regarding the bill.
Malkieli, reading from a statement by the Council of Torah Sages, also hit out at action taken by the IDF and attorney general to pursue draft dodgers, describing the move as “nothing less than cruel and criminal persecution against yeshiva students.”
Once their resignations come into effect, Netanyahu’s coalition will have 50 seats in the 120-seat parliament. Leading a minority government will make governing a challenge for Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s Rule Not Threatened
However, Netanyahu’s rule, for now, doesn’t appear threatened. Once Shas’ resignations are put forward, there’s a 48-hour window before they become official, which gives the Israeli leader a chance to salvage his government.
The joint move also comes just before Parliament starts a three-month summer recess on July 27, giving the Prime Minister several months of little to no legislative activity to bring the parties back into the fold.
The rupture is not expected to usher in immediate elections or undermine efforts to secure a possible Gaza ceasefire.
However, the Israeli leader will be more susceptible to the demands of his far-right coalition partners, who oppose ending the war while Hamas remains intact.
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