Shas leader Aryeh Deri warned that he would bring down the government unless it enacts a law exempting yeshiva students from military service.
In an interview with the Kol Baramah radio station, Deri gave Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his coalition a two-month deadline to legally secure the status of Torah students, threatening that if “it’s not regulated, we’ll go to elections.”
“Who would have dreamed that Torah scholars would be called criminals?” Deri remarked, expressing his frustration that members of the national-religious community had become “partners in this hate campaign” and arguing that it was they, not him, who “will bring about the fall of the right-wing government.”
Though not explicitly stated, Deri’s warning likely pertains to Shas’ support for the 2025 state budget, which must be passed by March 2025, or the government will collapse, triggering early elections.
This is the latest in a series of threats aimed at Netanyahu’s right, religious coalition, following the resignation of far-right former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who pulled his Otzma Yehudit party out of the government over the hostage ceasefire deal with Hamas. Another far-right minister, Betzalel Smotrich, is also threatening to resign if Israel does not resume fighting Hamas in Gaza.
In response to Deri’s warning, Avigdor Liberman, leader of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, tweeted, “There’s no point in waiting two months — we need to go to the polls now.”
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently deliberating a bill on chareidi enlistment. However, committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) has stated that he “would only produce a real conscription law that will significantly increase the IDF’s conscription base.”
The Shas and United Torah Judaism parties have been pressuring Netanyahu to move the legislation forward. UTJ’s Agudas Yisrael faction has also warned that it may vote against the budget if the issue of the draft is not addressed.
The IDF has previously informed the committee that, assuming necessary resources are allocated, it will be able to absorb chareidim “without any restrictions” starting in 2026.
However, Defense Minister Israel Katz has stated that this is not feasible and has advocated for a gradual increase in the number of chareidim drafted, aiming for 50 percent of the annual eligible chareidi draft cohort by 2032.
Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon has argued that Katz’s proposal will not meet the IDF’s manpower needs, making it incompatible with last summer’s High Court ruling, which mandates the government to draft chareidi yeshiva students.
{Matzav.com Israel}