Israel’s ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), has announced it is quitting the country’s fractious right-wing coalition due to a long-running dispute over mandatory military service, threatening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power.
Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, which is comprised of the Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation, Israeli media reported late on Monday.
UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf had resigned a month ago. A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that, in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government.
Degel HaTorah was quoted by news reports as saying the decision was made “in accordance with the directive” of the group’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Dov Lando.
Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, “and 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”.
The decision would leave Netanyahu with a razor-thin majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.
It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-Orthodox party, would follow suit.
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers have long threatened to leave the coalition over the conscription bill. They argue that a bill to exempt “yeshiva” or seminary students from conscription was a key promise in their agreement to join Netanyahu’s coalition in late 2022.
In June, on the eve of Israel’s war with Iran, the coalition barely survived after governing lawmakers reached a deal with ultra-Orthodox parties regarding exemptions to the mandatory military service.
The ultra-Orthodox have long been exempt from military service, which applies to most other young Israelis. But last year, the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Defense to end that practice and start conscripting seminary students.
Netanyahu had been pushing hard to resolve the deadlock over the new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.
He is under pressure from his own Likud party to draft more ultra-Orthodox men and impose penalties on dodgers, a red line for the Shas party, which demands a law guaranteeing its members’ permanent exemption from military service.
Netanyahu’s coalition, formed in December 2022, is one of the most far-right governments in the country’s history.
