Under the headline: “Faced with division within his coalition, Benjamin Netanyahu brings forward the election date ,” the French newspaper “Le Figaro” said that the crisis that has been escalating for weeks between the Israeli Prime Minister and his partners from the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) parties in the government coalition may hasten the end of his almost continuous rule since 2009.
In an attempt to maintain control over the election timetable, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party submitted a bill Wednesday evening to dissolve the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. If the bill is passed, as tentatively scheduled for May 20, elections are expected to be held three months later, at the end of August at the earliest.
Le Figaro explained that the crisis had been escalating for months, but it erupted on Tuesday when Rabbi Dov Landau, the spiritual leader of Lithuania's Haredim, called for the dissolution of parliament. In a letter, he wrote: "We have no confidence in the prime minister… There is no longer what could be called a single bloc. From our point of view, elections must be held as soon as possible." He added: "From now on, we will only do what is good for Haredi Judaism and the world of yeshivas (Talmudic seminaries)."
For several weeks, Netanyahu's coalition has been experiencing tension due to the anger of the ultra-Orthodox parties, who accuse him of failing to pass a law allowing ultra-Orthodox youth to continue evading military service.
Le Figaro continued, explaining that for several weeks, the coalition led by Netanyahu has been suffering from tension due to the anger of the ultra-Orthodox parties, who accuse him of being unable to pass a law that would allow ultra-Orthodox youth to continue evading military service.
This exemption, negotiated in the early years of the State of Israel, now allows some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men to avoid military service at a time when the army is suffering from a severe shortage of recruits. This system has become less acceptable in Israeli society, even within right-wing circles, where sons and daughters have been drafted since the start of the war in Gaza and are now demanding equality in military service.
From the very first day of this government, the ultra-Orthodox parties demanded a law enshrining the exemption of yeshiva students from military service. Netanyahu had promised this, but repeatedly postponed the decision due to crises and disagreements over the budget.
In June 2024, the Israeli Supreme Court accelerated the crisis, deeming the exemption unconstitutional and ordering a halt to government support for the yeshivas, thus depriving these vital institutions of Haredi life of their essential resources and exposing Netanyahu to his contradictions.
“Netanyahu had several opportunities to pass the law, but each time he found a justification—wars, confrontations, Iran, the budget—and so three and a half years passed,” says Haredi journalist Avi Mimran, who is close to Rabbi Landau. He added: “This is a bill that should have been passed at the beginning of the term, according to the coalition agreements.”
Thus, the issue of conscription became the catalyst for the collapse of the “natural alliance” between the ultra-Orthodox parties and Netanyahu, which had been a cornerstone of Israeli political life for years. “There is no longer a bloc,” said Moti Papshik, a member of the Agudat Yisrael party, on i24 News Wednesday evening, referring to the end of the “automatic alliance” with the prime minister.
Since the beginning of the millennium, as Le Figaro explains, Netanyahu has worked to strengthen his relationship with the ultra-Orthodox parties, whose influence in Israeli politics is growing (they constitute 14% of the population and could reach 24% by 2050), and which possess a significant capacity to mobilize disciplined voters. However, this alliance, once considered the most solid element of Netanyahu's political structure, is no longer guaranteed.
Faced with the threat of coalition collapse, and months before the elections, several opposition parties announced on Tuesday their intention to submit a bill to dissolve the Knesset. However, the prime minister opted to take the initiative to maintain control over the timing of the elections. Netanyahu had previously expressed his willingness to bring forward the elections scheduled for October to avoid them coinciding with the anniversary of Yom Kippur , which could reignite the debate surrounding the government's responsibilities, particularly those of the prime minister.
But for him, Le Figaro continues, the stakes also lie in controlling the political narrative, at a time when opinion polls point to a difficult election . Negotiations are currently underway between Likud and the other ruling parties to reach a compromise on dissolving the Knesset. Netanyahu is seeking to appear as the initiator of these early elections and to avoid the image of a coalition collapsing under pressure from the ultra-Orthodox and the opposition.
Netanyahu, 76, who has served as prime minister for 18 years (intermittently since 1996), is seeking to remain in office. However, he is currently under immense pressure, facing legal troubles. He is on trial in three criminal cases for fraud, breach of trust, and corruption, and is also facing widespread criticism from a large segment of society for his attacks on the rule of law and his perceived responsibility for the Hamas attack on October 7, 2013.
A recent poll published by the public broadcaster Kan on Tuesday showed Likud leading in voting intentions, but unable to form a government with the current coalition. Meanwhile, the opposition is attempting to form a united bloc led by Yair Lapid (center) and Naftali Bennett (right), based on a promise to conduct a national inquiry into the events of October 7 and to achieve equal military service for all citizens.
