Shas announces it will vote to dissolve Knesset as coalition crisis deepens

Netanyahu’s government on the brink as additional ultra-Orthodox faction threatens to join the Opposition in dissolving the Knesset, leaving the ruling Coalition without a parliamentary majority.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israel edged closer to new elections on Monday after an additional partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition threatened to bolt the government and back the dissolution of the Knesset.

Asher Medina, a spokesman for the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party, told the Kol Beramah radio channel that barring any changes over the next two days, the party will bolt the government and vote to dissolve the Knesset on Wednesday, forcing new elections.

“As things stand, we will vote on Wednesday in favor of dissolving the Knesset,” Medina said.

“We are disappointed with Netanyahu. We expected him to take action previously and not just in the past few days.”

The United Torah Judaism party, made up of the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael and Lithuanian Degel HaTorah factions, resolved last week to push for the dissolution of the Knesset, citing Netanyahu’s failure to secure passage of a new draft law reinstating army deferments for full-time yeshiva students.

The Supreme Court struck down the previous law in 2017, but allowed the draft deferment system to remain in place until last year, giving successive Israeli governments time to pass a replacement law. The deadline was delayed repeatedly due to the 2019-2022 political crisis, the COVID pandemic, and the October 7th, 2023 invasion.

Efforts by the government to pass a new law have been stymied, however, by MK Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and a rival of Netanyahu within the Likud.

Edelstein has called for major reforms to the draft system, limiting the deferments offered to yeshiva students, sparking a crisis with the government’s 18 ultra-Orthodox lawmakers.

While the government, with 68 MKs in the 120-member Knesset, can survive the withdrawal of UTJ’s 7 MKs, the departure of Shas and its 11 MKs would deprive the government of its parliamentary majority.

Netanyahu met last week with ultra-Orthodox coalition partners and with Edelstein, reporting “significant progress” on Friday in attempts to reach an agreement.

Opposition leaders have indicated their support for ultra-Orthodox efforts to bring down the Netanyahu government.

MK Yair Lapid, chief of the Yesh Atid party and Leader of the Opposition, announced last week that his party would submit its own measure to dissolve the Knesset.

On Monday, the National Unity faction announced that it has withdrawn all of its bills from the Knesset agenda for Wednesday, with the exception of its own bill to dissolve the Knesset.