Deri Makes Haredi Draft Law شرط for Shas Coalition

Shas chairman MK Arye Deri said his party won’t join or support Israel’s next government unless lawmakers pass legislation regulating the military service status of haredi yeshiva students.

Speaking to the haredi news outlet Kikar HaShabbat, Deri said the condition would apply no matter who forms the government. “There will be no government in Israel with Shas’s support or participation unless the status of yeshiva students is regulated,” he said.

The dispute has become central to coalition negotiations before the October 27 Knesset election. Parties disagree over whether yeshiva students should keep receiving exemptions from IDF service. Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), longtime partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, have faced recent criticism for their position on haredi conscription as the IDF confronts a severe manpower crisis.

The draft law dispute

The haredi parties have urged Netanyahu’s coalition to advance legislation addressing the status of yeshiva students. Critics say the legislation won’t increase haredi enlistment during the government’s term. The parties have also boycotted coalition votes, saying they wouldn’t cooperate until the coalition made progress on contentious legislation they had promoted.

The IDF has repeatedly warned that it faces an urgent manpower shortage after three years of war. In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if no solution emerged. Deri, who serves on the Security Cabinet, has made passage of the draft law a condition for Shas to join any future coalition.

Opposition criticism

Opposition leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Deri’s remarks. They criticized Netanyahu’s partnership with the haredi parties and warned about the manpower crisis.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the B’Yachad party, said: “Netanyahu will continue funding draft dodgers, and in return, Deri will give him the reins of power, all at the expense of those who serve.” Bennett added: “The IDF chief of staff is raising 10 red flags over the army’s collapse, while Deri, a member of the Security Cabinet, tells him: We intend to continue down the same path and institutionalize draft evasion.”

Bennett tied votes for Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Deri to the military-service dispute. “A vote for Netanyahu, [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, or Deri is a vote for draft evasion, 150 days of reserve duty a year, and billions of shekels every year transferred from the pockets of those who serve to those who evade service,” he said.

MK Avigdor Liberman, leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party, said Deri had “admitted in his own words that he will agree to forming a government only if his puppet, Netanyahu, agrees to permanently exempt all haredim from military service.” Liberman said a government led by Netanyahu and Deri would, in practice, mean “an even greater burden on those who serve, hundreds more days of reserve duty, and further extensions of mandatory service for active-duty soldiers.”

Deri’s condition puts the proposed regulation of yeshiva students’ service status at the centre of Shas’s coalition position. The parties remain divided over exemptions. The IDF has warned of a manpower shortage, and opposition leaders have attacked the coalition’s approach before the election.