Ultra-Orthodox parties in Netanyahu's coalition threaten to vote for Bill calling for early elections
Binyamin Netanyahu's
coalition are threatening to vote with the opposition next week in favour of a Bill calling for early elections.
Elections must be held by October 2026. According to polls, Mr Netanyahu's right-wing and religious coalition is set to lose its majority. The Bill to be voted on in a preliminary vote next week would likely mean the election would be brought forward to later this year or early next year.
The 20-month
Gaza war
, the longest in
Israel's
history, has caused a serious rift in Mr Netanyahu's coalition.
Many of the voters of the right-wing parties have already served hundreds of days of army reserve duty, causing a huge strain on families and businesses.
READ MORE
The ultra-Orthodox parties, in contrast, serve a constituency that, with a few exceptions, does not serve in the army. Calls for a more equitable sharing of the burden have been rebuffed by ultra-Orthodox leaders, who fear that military service will be the first step towards the adoption of a more secular lifestyle.
The fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community, which already makes up about 14 per cent of Israel's population, is angry that the government has failed to pass legislation enshrining in law an exemption from military service for yeshiva religious seminary students.
[
International aid ship en route to Gaza will be stopped, warns Israeli military
Opens in new window
]
Israel's high court ruled a year ago that the draft exemption for the ultra-Orthodox community is illegal as it discriminates against other Israelis, who serve three years in the army from the age of 18.
However, the overwhelming majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, known in Hebrew as Haredim, or God-fearing, have simply ignored their draft orders – so far with impunity.
Mr Netanyahu promised the ultra-Orthodox parties months ago that legislation would be passed enabling the community to continue avoiding military service, but he failed to deliver on that promise, partly due to fierce opposition from his own political base.
Legislation being drawn up by Yuli Edelstein, the head of the Knesset parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, and a member of Mr Netanyahu's Likud party, calls for sweeping economic sanctions against those who avoid the draft and would also prevent offenders from receiving a driving licence or travelling abroad.
In an effort to exert pressure on Mr Netanyahu, the ultra-Orthodox parties have, for the last month, refused to support coalition private members' Bills, effectively paralysing the work of the Knesset.
The prospect of early elections is highly problematic for Mr Netanyahu. 'It looks like the beginning of the end,' a source involved in one ultra-Orthodox party said. 'The question is just how much time this end will take.'
However, ultra-Orthodox parties will have to take into account the fact that early elections could also send them into opposition.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
4 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Priests demand Irish Catholic Church sever ties with Allianz over Israel links
The Catholic Church in Ireland has been called on to immediately sever its long-standing relationship with Allianz insurance because of the multinational's connection with Israel . In a statement on Thursday, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) said that last June, a report published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN alleged Allianz helped 'to sustain and pay for Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories'. The UN report, led by the special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, found that asset management firms including Pimco , which is owned by German-based financial services company Allianz, was a significant buyer of Israeli treasury bonds. These bonds, the report argued, play a 'critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza '. READ MORE The ACP pointed out that 'for decades, Allianz has been the trusted friend of the Catholic Church – even to the extent of enjoying representation on the Allianz board – with Catholic Church properties in Ireland including places of worship, schools, cars, etc almost all being insured by Allianz as a matter of course.' It said that 'outrage' in the church at events in Gaza would be increased exponentially by 'the revelation of the Irish Catholic Church's connection with Allianz and Allianz's connection with the state of Israel'. 'We ask that the response of the Irish Catholic Church should be immediate and far-reaching in cutting our links with Allianz,' it said. 'Nothing less is acceptable, as Irish Catholics will now be conscious of the Allianz connection – albeit by extension – and of our connection with the plight of the children we see on our television screens.' It noted how 'coincidentally' next Sunday, Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin, 'together with his fellow bishops', was 'leading a 'Day of Prayer and Reflection for Gaza' in the parishes and dioceses of Ireland'. The Archbishop, it said, had issued a pastoral letter calling for 'renewed commitment by the international community for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East'. It also encouraged Catholic religious congregations and dioceses to exercise high levels of due diligence in scrutinising investment portfolios to determine whether they were helping to sustain the 'appalling human rights abuse being inflicted on the Palestinian people'. The ACP noted, too, a petition by GAA members which had brought attention to the Allianz-GAA relationship and demands that it be ended. The association felt 'a similar demand is likely to emerge when the long and close commercial relationship of Allianz and the Catholic Church in Ireland becomes clear'. Almost 800 football, hurling and camogie players have signed an open letter asking the GAA to end its relationship with Allianz, claiming its financial ties were 'enabling the genocide of the Palestinian people'. The letter was delivered to Tom Ryan, director general of the GAA, at a protest outside Croke Park on Wednesday. Allianz is a sponsor of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship, the Allianz Leagues, the Camogie Association and Cumann na mBunscol. In a response to the GAA petition, Allianz said: 'Our long-standing partnership with the GAA is about supporting Irish sport and communities. 'Allianz Ireland is part of a global group and, while the wider group operates internationally across insurance and investment, as a matter of principle we do not comment on individual customers or business matters. What we can say is that all Allianz business decisions are guided by strict legal standards and world-leading ESG principles.' A spokesman for Allianz had 'no comment' on the ACP statement.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Netanyahu set to give final approval for Gaza City operation despite protests
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to give final approval for plans to take over Gaza City to begin within days. The widening of the 22-month offensive against Hamas appears to be proceeding despite protests in Israel and the Palestinian enclave. Mr Netanyahu is set to meet senior security officials to sign off on the plans, according to an Israeli source. It is unclear whether they will discuss a ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators which Hamas says it has accepted. The Israeli military has been calling medical officials and international organisations in the northern Gaza Strip to encourage them to evacuate to the south ahead of the expanded operation. The military plans to call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 more. Palestinians in Gaza City call for the end of the war (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP) Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. A renewed offensive could bring even more casualties and displacement to the territory, where the war has already killed tens of thousands and where experts have warned of imminent famine. Many Israelis fear it could also doom the remaining 20 or so living hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the October 7 2023 attack that ignited the war. Israeli troops have already begun limited operations in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood and the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, where they have carried out several previous major operations over the course of the war, only to see militants later regroup. The military says it plans to operate in areas where ground troops have not yet entered and where it says Hamas still has military and governing capabilities. There has been little sign of Palestinians fleeing en masse, as they did when Israel carried out an earlier offensive in Gaza City in the opening weeks of the war. The military says it controls around 75% of Gaza and residents say nowhere in the territory feels safe. Hundreds gathered in Gaza City on Thursday for a rare protest against the war and Israel's plans to support the mass relocation of Palestinians to other countries. Unlike in previous protests, there were no expressions of opposition to Hamas. Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas call for the end of the war as they march near the Gaza border (Maya Levin/AP) In Israel, families of some of the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv to condemn the expanded operation. Israel believes around 20 hostages are still alive. 'Forty-two hostages were kidnapped alive and murdered in captivity due to military pressure and delay in signing a deal,' said Dalia Cusnir, whose brother-in-law Eitan Horn is still being held captive. Mr Horn's brother Iair was released during a ceasefire earlier this year. 'Enough to sacrifice the hostages. Enough to sacrifice the soldiers, both regular and reservists. Enough to sacrifice the evacuees. Enough to sacrifice the younger generation in the country,' said Bar Goddard, daughter of Meni Goddard, whose body is being held by Hamas. Additional protests are planned for Thursday night in Tel Aviv. Plans for widening the offensive have sparked international outrage, with many of Israel's closest western allies — but not the US — calling on it to end the war. 'I must reiterate that it is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza, and the unconditional release of all hostages to avoid the massive death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause,' United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said. At least 36 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 14 who were seeking humanitarian aid, according to local hospitals. An Israeli tank moves through an area near the Israeli-Gaza border (Maya Levin/AP) The Israeli military said it killed several armed militants in the Morag Corridor, a military zone where people seeking aid have repeatedly come under fire in recent weeks, according to witnesses and health officials. Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza had earlier reported that six people were killed in that area while seeking aid on Thursday. It was not possible to reconcile the two accounts. The Media Freedom Coalition, which promotes press freedoms worldwide, called for Israel to allow independent, foreign news organisations access to Gaza. Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international media from the war which has killed at least 184 Palestinian journalists and media workers. 'Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war,' said a statement signed by 27 of the coalition's member countries. Witnesses, health officials and the UN human rights office say Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people since May as they headed towards sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli-backed American contractor, and in the chaos surrounding UN aid convoys, which are frequently attacked by looters and overrun by crowds. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces. The GHF says there has been almost no violence at the sites, and that its armed contractors have only used pepper spray and fired into the air on some occasions to prevent deadly crowding. The scene of Israeli military strikes in a tent camp for displaced people near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Israeli air strikes also destroyed a tent camp in Deir al-Balah, the only city in Gaza that has been relatively unscathed in the war and where many have sought refuge. Residents said the military warned them to flee shortly before the strikes set the camp ablaze, and there were no reports of casualties. Families, many with children, could later be seen sifting through the ashes for the belongings they had managed to take with them during earlier evacuations. Mohammad Kahlout, who had been displaced from northern Gaza, said they were given just five minutes to gather what they could and evacuate. 'We are civilians, not terrorists. What did we do, and what did our children do, to be displaced again?'
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Israel bombards Gaza City ahead of planned invasion as international condemnation of West Bank plan grows
Follow our love blog on developments in Gaza and the West Bank here: 10 minutes ago Palestinians, including children, who are starving due to Israel's blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, beg for food at Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, Gaza. 13 minutes ago Palestinians in Gaza City are protesting in a last-ditch effort to stop the takeover of their city by the Israeli military. Benjamin Netanyahu will today finalise plans with the IDF for the displacement of all the city's resident to the south of the Gaza strip. The plan to seize Gaza City The plan to seize Gaza City was approved this month by the Israeli security cabinet, which Netanyahu chairs, even though many of Israel's closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Netanyahu will hold a meeting on Thursday to approve operational plans, according to a source close to the prime minister. He intends to launch the operation as soon as possible, which would include issuing warnings to residents to leave Gaza City, the source said. Even as the military begins its preparations to launch the assault on Gaza City, Israeli officials have indicated that there is time for a ceasefire to be reached. Netanyahu is under pressure from some far-right members of his coalition to reject a temporary ceasefire and instead to continue the war and pursue the annexation of the territory. In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes as Israeli forces have escalated shelling on the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods. Some families have left for shelters along the coast, while others have moved to central and southern parts of the enclave, according to residents there. "We are facing a bitter-bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else, as long as this war continues, survival is uncertain," said Rabah Abu Elias, 67, a father of seven. "In the news, they speak about a possible truce, on the ground, we only hear explosions and see deaths. To leave Gaza City or not isn't an easy decision to make," he told Reuters by phone. Israeli tanks have been edging closer to densely populated Gaza City over the past 10 days. On Thursday, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X that the military had started making what he said were initial warning calls to medical and international organisations operating in Gaza's north, telling them that Gaza City residents should start to prepare to move out of the city and towards the south. Adraee shared a recording of what he said was an Israeli officer telling a Gazan health ministry official that hospitals in southern Gaza should also prepare to receive patients from medical facilities in the north, who will be forced to evacuate. A Gaza health ministry official confirmed the phone call had taken place. The official said health authorities had no intention to evacuate Gaza City hospitals, saying that would risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Two more people have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the ministry said on Thursday. The new deaths raised the number of Palestinians who have died from such causes to 271, including 112 children, since the war began. Israel disputes malnutrition and starvation figures posted by the Gaza health ministry. 18 minutes ago Israel bombards Gaza City ahead of large-scale invasion Israel calls up 60,000 reservists amid Gaza City offensive plans Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal; Israel yet to respond Thousands of Palestinians flee intensified shelling in Gaza City The Israeli military maintained its bombardment of Gaza City overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave's largest city. The military a day earlier called up 60,000 reservists in a sign that the government was pressing ahead with the plan, despite international condemnation. However, one military official said that most reservists would not serve in combat and that the strategy to take Gaza City had not yet been finalised. Calling up tens of thousands of reservists is also likely to take weeks, giving time for mediators to attempt to bridge gaps over a new temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas has accepted, but the Israeli government is yet to officially respond to. The proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas militants and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The Israeli government has restated that all of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza must be released at once. Israeli officials believe that around 20 of them are still alive. In a sign of growing despair at conditions in Gaza, residents staged a rare show of protest against the war on Thursday. Carrying banners reading "Save Gaza, enough" and "Gaza is dying by the killing, hunger and oppression," hundreds of people rallied in Gaza City in a march organised by several civil unions. "This is for a clear message: words are finished, and the time has come for action to stop the military operations, to stop the genocide against our people and to stop the massacres taking place daily," said Palestinian journalist Tawfik Abu Jarad during the protest. The Gaza health ministry said at least 70 people had been killed in Israeli fire in the enclave in the past 24 hours, including eight people in a house in Sabra suburb in Gaza City. A statement from the Palestinian Fatah movement said one of those killed in Sabra was a Fatah leader and former militant, along with seven members of his family. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. 25 minutes ago Much of the western world issues statement condemning Israel's West Bank plan The decision by Israel to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, East of Jerusalem, which would effectively sever much of the West Bank from the city, has been branded as "unacceptable and a violation of international law". "We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms," foreign ministers from Ireland, the EU, Canada, Norway, and many other countries have said. "Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich says this plan will make a two-state solution impossible by dividing any Palestinian state and restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem. This brings no benefits to the Israeli people. Instead, it risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability, taking us further away from peace. "The Government of Israel still has an opportunity to stop the E1 plan going any further. We encourage them to urgently retract this plan. "Unilateral action by the Israeli government undermines our collective desire for security and prosperity in the Middle East. The Israeli government must stop settlement construction in line with UNSC Resolution 2334 and remove their restrictions on the finances of the Palestinian Authority," the joint signatories, including Tánaiste Simon Harris, said. Calling up tens of thousands of reservists is also likely to take weeks, giving time for mediators to attempt to bridge gaps over a new temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas has accepted, but the Israeli government is yet to officially respond to. The proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas militants and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The Israeli government has restated that all of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza must be released at once. Israeli officials believe that around 20 of them are still alive. Gaza city seizure Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with some cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss his plan to seize Gaza City, according to Haaretz and other Israeli media, without giving more details. The plan was approved this month by the security cabinet, which he chairs, even though many of Israel's closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Netanyahu is under pressure from some far-right members of his coalition to reject a temporary ceasefire and instead to continue the war and pursue the annexation of the territory. In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes as Israeli forces have escalated shelling on the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods. Some families have left for shelters along the coast, while others have moved to central and southern parts of the enclave, according to residents there. "We are facing a bitter-bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else, as long as this war continues, survival is uncertain," said Rabah Abu Elias, 67, a father of seven. "In the news, they speak about a possible truce, on the ground, we only hear explosions and see deaths. To leave Gaza City or not isn't an easy decision to make," he told Reuters by phone. Israeli tanks have been edging closer to densely populated Gaza City over the past ten days. Israeli officials have said evacuation notices would be issued to Palestinians there before the military moves in. Two more people have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said on Thursday. The new deaths raised the number of Palestinians who have died from such causes to 271, including 112 children, since the war began.
