By Said Amori and Rania Abu Shamala
JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) - The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction intends to support a bill to be submitted next week by opposition parties to dissolve the Israeli Knesset, thereby toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Channel 12 reported Thursday.
The development follows calls by the party’s spiritual leadership to withdraw from Netanyahu’s coalition due to the government’s failure to pass a bill exempting religious students from military service.
On Wednesday, opposition parties including Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid and Yisrael Beiteinu headed by former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced their intention to submit draft laws next week to dissolve the Knesset.
Channel 12 said the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Yisrael party, which together with Degel HaTorah forms the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) bloc that holds seven seats in the 120-member Knesset, three of which belong to Agudat Yisrael, has declared that it "will support the bill the opposition plans to submit next week."
The channel noted that this announcement “raises the likelihood of a potential fracture within the ruling coalition, especially if other Haredi parties follow suit -- potentially bringing early elections in Israel closer.”
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily and Haaretz reported Wednesday that rabbis from Haredi parties had called for withdrawal from the government due to the ongoing stalemate in legislating the military service exemption for religious Jews. One rabbi reportedly even instructed a party to support the vote to dissolve the Knesset for this reason.
On the same day, Channel 13 reported that the Shas party, which holds 11 Knesset seats, had decided to back the bill to dissolve the Knesset and bring down Netanyahu’s government due to the continued deadlock over the draft exemption law for the ultra-Orthodox.
This followed declarations by rabbis from the United Torah Judaism alliance supporting the dissolution of the Knesset and moving toward early elections because of the government's failure to pass the exemption law.
The governing coalition currently holds 68 seats and needs at least 61 to remain in power.
The channel added that Shas is expected to vote in favor of the bill in the preliminary reading next week “to test the political climate” before making its final decision on the next steps.
Ultra-Orthodox communities continue to protest against military service following a June 25, 2024 Supreme Court ruling obliging them to enlist and prohibiting financial support for religious institutions whose students refuse to serve.
Haredim account for about 13% of Israel’s 10 million citizens. They oppose military service on religious grounds, arguing that studying the Torah is their primary duty and that integration into secular society threatens their religious identity and community cohesion.
For decades, Haredi men have received repeated draft deferments on the basis of religious studies until they reach the exemption age, currently set at 26.
The Israeli opposition has accused Netanyahu of attempting to pass legislation exempting Haredim from service to satisfy coalition partners and avoid a government collapse.