Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s effort to hold the next election in October is running into a growing list of demands from ultra-Orthodox parties, which Likud officials have described as extortionate.
Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear that preserving his right-wing and religious bloc comes first, and he is expected to pay the political price to keep it intact. One example came Tuesday, when the Knesset gave initial approval to a Shas-backed bill that would repeal a kosher certification reform advanced by former minister Matan Kahana.
Senior Likud officials said ultra-Orthodox parties have presented the coalition with a series of demands in recent days, seeking to calm their voters after their failure to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.
The ultra-Orthodox parties have long sought to preserve broad exemptions from compulsory military service for men engaged in full-time Torah study, a deeply divisive issue in Israeli politics.
Among the demands are a daycare subsidies bill, a proposed Basic Law on Torah study, the kosher certification bill and insistence on a seat on the committee that appoints rabbinical court judges. Basic Laws serve as Israel’s quasi-constitutional framework.
Behind the scenes, tensions are rising between Degel HaTorah, an Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox faction, and Shas, which represents many Sephardic and Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox voters. Each party is trying to deliver more gains to its constituency, leaving the coalition to absorb the cost as it seeks to survive.
The daycare bill, intended to bypass a High Court order halting subsidies for draft dodgers, passed a preliminary vote last week. Its first hearing is expected Wednesday in the Knesset House Committee, with progress depending on the coalition’s tight timetable before the expected dissolution of parliament.
The proposed Basic Law on Torah Study, which would define Torah study as a fundamental value of the State of Israel and a significant service to the Jewish people, is expected to come to a preliminary vote next week.
Degel HaTorah is also expected to condition its vote Wednesday for state comptroller candidate Michael Rabilo, Netanyahu’s personal attorney, on the appointment of lawmaker Yitzhak Goldknopf to the Judicial Selection Committee for rabbinical courts.
Last week, ultra-Orthodox lawmakers also pressured Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over tax benefits in the West Bank, which the Religious Zionist Party leader sought to pass. In return, he was forced to amend the bill to include communities sought by Degel HaTorah and approve expanded funding for religious councils at Shas’ request.