Israel’s far-right coalition at risk as ultra-Orthodox party says it has lost trust in Prime Minister Netanyahu



SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government may be on the verge of collapsing. A vote to dissolve parliament has been called for next week, and elections could be called in early September. NPR’s Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv. Hi, Daniel.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hi, Sacha.

PFEIFFER: What is prompting this?

ESTRIN: Well, one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s main coalition partners announced, quote, “we have no trust in Netanyahu anymore,” and that party called to dissolve the Israeli parliament as soon as possible. This is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish faction of Netanyahu’s coalition, and this faction is upset that Netanyahu is not advancing a law that it really wants to see passed – a law that would exempt ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis from military service.

PFEIFFER: And why is that such a contentious issue in Israel now?

ESTRIN: It’s been a contentious issue for years, but the basics are that most Jewish Israelis are required to serve in the military once they graduate high school. But historically, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Hasidic Jews have been exempt from that, and they’ve been allowed instead to attend religious studies. Well, the last couple years of war across the region really changed the dynamic in Israel. The country simply needed more soldiers. And so that placed a lot of political pressure on Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, ultrareligious community to take part in military service. And the Supreme Court here also said it’s illegal to let ultra-Orthodox Israelis dodge the military draft.

Netanyahu was trying to find a solution to this to cater to his ultra-Orthodox political partners. He wasn’t able to find one, and that’s what’s triggering this current political crisis. Now, this ultra-Orthodox party threatening to leave and to dissolve the parliament, that party alone cannot collapse Netanyahu’s government. The question is if it will succeed in convincing another ultra-Orthodox party to bolt as well in the coming days. And if that happens, then Netanyahu will lose his majority, and that would topple the government. It could happen as early as next week.

PFEIFFER: Daniel, how significant would it be if Netanyahu’s coalition potentially did collapse now? And then what does this mean for Netanyahu’s hold on power?

ESTRIN: Well, in terms of the significance, I mean, whether the government collapses in the coming week, that could mean elections take place as early as September, but that won’t make much of a difference time-wise because the elections are already scheduled anyway for late October. But what is interesting is that we already see Netanyahu planning for the day after, for what happens after elections. We’re seeing him quickly push through some senior appointments, appointing people to head Israel’s intelligence agencies. He’s trying to cement his agenda in this time of transition. I spoke about that with Tal Schneider. She’s a political correspondent for The Times of Israel.

TAL SCHNEIDER: Netanyahu is moving very fast these days to put loyalists in many spots, very important spots, around the country for, you know, people that he think that may stay loyal to him after election. This is crucial. And you see a huge fight from the opposition and media and courts to avoid some of those nominations.

ESTRIN: Now, Netanyahu is seeking reelection, but there’s a front-runner who’s challenging him – the right-wing former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. So we are going to be expecting some really crucial few months coming up in Israel. It’s a very sensitive time. Technically, there’s a ceasefire in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, but those fronts could return to open conflict at any moment. So whatever Netanyahu decides to do will have a major impact on these upcoming elections.

PFEIFFER: That is NPR’s Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you.

ESTRIN: You’re welcome.

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