Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sitting on a razor-thin margin with 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset after the resignation of six of the remaining seven members of United Torah Judaism.
The disagreement stems from the long-running dispute over the inability of Netanyahu to draft a bill to exempt yeshiva students from compulsory military service. While the lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.
Degel Hatorah, the Lithuanian faction of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, decided to leave the coalition on Monday evening, and it was followed by the Agudat Yisrael faction later on Monday.
“Following repeated violations by the government of its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies … (its MKs) have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government,” said Degel Hatorah in a statement.
Israel Kravitz, a rabbi of the Lithuanian faction, said even though they have signed a resignation letter, they will remain in coalition if a draft bill is presented in a manner that pleases the rabbis.
“Even after Rabbi Landau signed the letter, we gave several hours to try and fix this,” he told Haredi radio station Kol BaRama, “If Netanyahu presents a draft acceptable by the rabbis, we’ll go back to the government.”
“Time and again, they fail to uphold their commitments to regulate the legal status of yeshiva students,” said Rabbi Dov Landau, “the precious crown of creation and secret of its existence.”
What is next?
Netanyahu is walking on a very fine line. If the last member of the United Torah Judaism decides to resign, he will lose the majority, and this means a re-election will follow, not immediately, but inevitably. All legislative work of the Knesset will effectively be frozen. However, the ultra-orthodox Jewish outfit has very little to gain from a government change. Though the new election will likely revolve around the conscription bill, they might seek an arrangement which will satisfy their needs. This kind of situation positions the United Torah Judaism party in a swing situation capable of deciding the outcome of any future election.