Two far-right and orthodox parties, which were part of the coalition that brought Benjamin Netanyahu to power in Israel, announced in the last hours their departure from the government amid a dispute over mandatory military service for Haredi students.
First it was the United Torah Judaism party and in the last hours Shas joined, leaving the prime minister in a difficult situation that could make him lose his majority in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
Why did the ultra-Orthodox leave Netanyahu’s government?
On Monday, United Torah Judaism announced that “the members of the Degel HaTorah Knesset will leave the Government and the coalition,” according to a spokesperson for Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of the non-Hasidic faction that makes up the party together with the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael.
Degel HaTorá accused the government of trying to “increase the difficulties of Torah students’ lives” and of “repeatedly failing to fulfill its obligations to regulate the legal status of students”.
On Wednesday, the spiritual leadership of the Sephardic-ultra-Orthodox party Shas decided to leave the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
However, in a small relief for Netanyahu, Shas stated that for now they will not move to the opposition or support motions of censure against the government, which still gives the Prime Minister a slight majority of one parliamentarian in the Knesset: 61 seats out of 120.
In addition, the Israeli Parliament will go on a long recess from July 27 to October 19.
The source of the conflict is the bill promoted by the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein (member of the right-wing Likud party, the same as Netanyahu), to regulate the Haredi military service in the Israel Defense Forces.
Both ultra-Orthodox parties demand that Haredi students be exempt from military service, a very unpopular measure, even among right-wing politicians in Israel.
Last month, the opposition’s motion of no confidence against the government failed when Netanyahu reached an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox members of United Torah Judaism and Shas to soften some of the harsh sanctions included in the Edelstein proposal for military service amid the recent military conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, and recently against Syria.