Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers mull toppling government over draft – report

Secret talks among ultra-Orthodox parties hint at government collapse if draft exemption law fails, with snap elections potentially on the horizon.

By David Brummer, World Israel News

A growing political crisis over the draft exemption law for yeshiva students is pushing the ultra-Orthodox parties toward a potential showdown with the government.

Indeed, there is speculation it could lead to early elections, Israeli outlet Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday.

According to a segment aired on Tuesday evening, rabbinic leaders are preparing to pull their parties out of the coalition if the government fails to pass a new draft law re-establishing army deferments for yeshiva students by the Shavuot holiday, which begins on Sunday evening.

In the past few days, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) have held confidential talks over a possible election date.

Shas reportedly proposed scheduling elections after the summer recess, but UTJ declined, saying the decision must come from their rabbinic leadership.

Some UTJ figures suspect Shas is trying to buy time, a claim Shas strongly denies, calling the reports “completely fake” and insisting that no talks about election dates are underway.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Nechemia Alter, son of Gerrer Rebbe Yaakov Alter, the head of Hasidic dynasty of Gur, conveyed a stark message to Lithuanian rabbinic leaders: the Gur community will no longer wait for consensus, and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf — himself a Gerrer Hasid — will resign from the government after Shavuot.

However, a subsequent report from Israel National News, the national religious network, seemed to pour cold water on this assertion, suggesting Goldknopf would not act unilaterally.

“If there is a withdrawal from the coalition, it will be done collectively. If that can’t be achieved, there is no point in symbolic resignation,” said a political source.

This development follows a pivotal meeting in March between the Gerrer Rebbe and Lithuanian leaders Rabbi Dov Lando and Rabbi Asher Weiss, where they agreed to give the government until Shavuot to show meaningful progress on the exemption law.

At the time, the rebbe urged immediate withdrawal from the coalition, but was persuaded to wait in unity. Now, with that deadline looming, the Gerrer camp appears poised to act independently.

Though Rabbis Lando and Hirsch expressed openness to leaving the government, they stopped short of committing to a timeline.

Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach of Belz, spiritual leader of MK Yisrael Eichler, also opposes an immediate exit from the coalition.

As internal divisions among the ultra-Orthodox deepen and the draft law remains stalled, the possibility of the government’s collapse — and snap elections — appears increasingly real.