Eisenkot Seeks 61-Seat Coalition With Haredi Parties to Oust Netanyahu
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9
Eisenkot Seeks 61-Seat Coalition With Haredi Parties to Oust Netanyahu
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9
Summary
48 seats leave Gadi Eisenkot 13 short of a majority, pushing the Israeli opposition to explore support from ultra-Orthodox parties after he received the mandate to form a government.
Mandatory military service is the hinge issue: Eisenkot publicly insists on universal service, but allies are weighing compromises such as age limits, softer penalties or looser enlistment quotas for Haredi men.
90,000 Haredi men are eligible but unenlisted, according to the IDF, while the military says it faces a 12,000-soldier shortfall after the strain of the war that followed Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
United Torah Judaism's refusal to recommend Netanyahu in presidential consultations and reports of Avigdor Liberman's secret outreach suggest the Haredi bloc is testing alternatives as Netanyahu's path back to power narrows.
A deal would upend a decades-long alliance in which Haredi parties backed Netanyahu's right-wing camp in exchange for seminary funding and draft exemptions, while helping Eisenkot avoid relying on Arab parties' 19 seats.