Netanyahu coalition threatened if police arrest Haredi students who refuse military service

The head of the Israeli Shas Party has threatened to withdraw from Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if the military police arrest any Haredi Torah students who refuse military service.

“The moment, heaven forbid, even a single incident occurs – just one – where the military police enter a yeshiva or a home and arrest even one yeshiva student, at that moment – regardless of the circumstances, whether it is a Supreme Court decision or insistence by the attorney general – at that moment, Shas will not be able to remain in the government,” Aryeh Deri told his party’s HaDerech newspaper. “It is inconceivable that Torah scholars would face a real threat, and we would continue to sit in the government.”

Deri explained that his party had sought to pass the conscription law immediately after the government was formed, but was persuaded by Justice Minister Yariv Levin to wait for legal amendments that would reduce the chances of the law being rejected or overturned by a Supreme Court ruling.

“We reluctantly accepted his opinion, but after a year of protests, when we had a text for the law ready, the 7 October, 2023, attack occurred, putting more pressure on and highlighting the army’s dire need for soldiers in times of war, given all the losses and injuries,” he added.

The Shas leader accused former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, of obstructing the law, saying that they abandoned their cooperation with them, “perhaps out of fear of public opinion, or out of a desire to weaken the prime minister; they did everything they could to prevent the law.”

He stressed that his party seeks to reach a comprehensive understanding on the components and basic provisions of the conscription law before the start of the Knesset’s summer session. “Continuing the government’s work as if nothing had happened is impossible without consensus.”

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