Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers preparing to topple Netanyahu after election- report

Hasidic leaders angered over failure of government to pass new draft law for yeshiva students are reportedly prepared to help facilitate establishment of minority government led by Gadi Eisenkot in order to unseat Netanyahu.

By World Israel News Staff

Two senior United Torah Judaism lawmakers are reportedly prepared to abstain rather than vote against a minority government led by Gadi Eisenkot, potentially opening a new route to power for the opposition leader if next month’s election produces another deadlocked Knesset.

According to a report published Monday night by Israel’s Channel 12, the maneuver centers on Yitzhak Goldknopf and Ya’akov Tessler, both representatives of the Gur Hasidic movement within UTJ’s Agudat Yisrael faction.

Under the scenario being discussed, the two would refrain from opposing an Eisenkot government even if his coalition entered the confidence vote with fewer than 61 lawmakers.

The move would mark a potentially significant rupture in the alliance between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties, which have been among his most dependable political partners for years.

Senior figures in Gur reportedly believe Netanyahu has exhausted his ability to deliver legislation securing broad military-service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students and no longer regard themselves as obligated to preserve his premiership.

One figure in the Hasidic movement said the directive to Goldknopf would be not to block an Eisenkot minority government, describing the objective as bringing Netanyahu’s tenure to an end. Tessler is also expected to follow that course, according to the account.

The position of the rest of UTJ is considerably less certain.

Some Gur figures believe other members of the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction could ultimately abstain as well, and have suggested that the Lithuanian Degel HaTorah faction might eventually do the same.

Other sources, however, have cast doubt on that scenario, saying representatives affiliated with other Hasidic groups and Degel HaTorah could still vote against an Eisenkot government.

UTJ chairman Ya’akov Asher publicly pushed back on suggestions that the party was plotting to punish Netanyahu.
“United Torah Judaism has no desire to topple or crown anyone, and we are not acting out of revenge or other interests,” Asher said.

He said the party’s decisions would instead be determined by its rabbinic leadership and by whether the status of full-time Torah students is resolved.

Goldknopf issued a similarly conditional response rather than directly committing himself to vote against Eisenkot.

“Agudat Yisrael will not support the establishment of a government… without regulating the status of yeshiva students,” he said.

Goldknopf added that his faction was demanding conscription legislation without recruitment targets or sanctions — a position that remains sharply at odds with Eisenkot’s insistence on military or national service for all Israelis.

That contradiction could make any longer-term alliance difficult even if ultra-Orthodox abstentions enabled Eisenkot to take office.

Eisenkot said over the weekend that neither the existing ultra-Orthodox nor Arab parties currently satisfy the conditions he has established for joining his government.

“At the moment I don’t see any Arab or ultra-Orthodox parties who accept these principles,” he said.

Those conditions include recognizing Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, accepting the Declaration of Independence, supporting universal military or national service and recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization that must be defeated.

Eisenkot has nevertheless previously left open the possibility of eventually working with ultra-Orthodox parties if they accept his conditions, and has specifically spoken of the possibility of cooperation with Shas.

The latest report is also not the first indication that Netanyahu’s traditionally firm hold over UTJ has weakened.

Moshe Gafni, a senior Degel HaTorah leader, hinted at a closed gathering in August that his faction could consider backing Eisenkot after years of alignment with Netanyahu.

“It may be easier for us there,” Gafni said when discussing Eisenkot.

Gafni argued that the political right had failed the ultra-Orthodox community on issues involving yeshiva students and military conscription.

Earlier in the year, senior Lithuanian rabbinic leader Rabbi Dov Lando had also declared that his camp no longer considered itself politically bound to Netanyahu following repeated disputes over the draft issue.

The possible abstentions take on outsized importance because Israel does not require a new government to receive the affirmative votes of 61 of the Knesset’s 120 members at its initial investiture vote.

A government can theoretically take office with fewer than 61 supporters so long as more lawmakers vote for it than against it.

That means ultra-Orthodox lawmakers would not necessarily need to join Eisenkot’s coalition or vote for him. Simply abstaining could reduce the number of votes opposing the new government enough to allow it to win the confidence vote.

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