Will Netanyahu fall under the weight of his ultra-Orthodox allies?

Is Israel on the verge of a government crisis? This scenario could well come true within weeks, according to journalist Noa Shpigel in Ha'Aretz . “Rabbi Dov Landau, spiritual leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community [from present-day Lithuania and Belarus], has just asked members of the Degel Hatorah [Standard of the Torah] party to support a bill to dissolve the Knesset, introduced by the parliamentary opposition.”

The issue? The question of the de facto exemption from military service enjoyed by haredim (the "God-fearing" in Hebrew, meaning the ultra-Orthodox) since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, an exemption that has, until now, not been subject to any de jure legislative framework. In concrete terms, haredim enrolled in yeshivas – religious seminaries – are exempt from conscription.

“But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to force a compromise between his coalition parties.”

Within his government, two camps are in direct opposition. On the one hand, the Likud and the far-right religious nationalist parties, led by ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, support the conscription of Haredim in the name of the war effort. And, on the other, the ultra-Orthodox religious parties—including Degel Hatorah—are opposed to any legislation regulating Haredi conscription.

Taking advantage of this breach in the Netanyahu government, the opposition parties Yesh Atid (centrist) and Yisrael Beytenu (secular far-right) announced that they would submit their bills to dissolve the Knesset next week.

An estimated 66,000 Haredim are exempt from conscription. However, today, the IDF is struggling to call up reservists and conscripts. “The Haredim's inertia has become unbearable for a majority of the population,” writes Ha'Aretz.