Deri says like UTJ, Shas won’t join next government without a draft exemption law
Haredi leader's comments draw rebukes from Bennett and Liberman, who warn voting for such a govenrment would lead to greater burden on IDF reservists
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri on Wednesday declared that his ultra-Orthodox party will not join or support the next government unless it passes legislation preserving sweeping military service exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students.
“There will be no government in Israel with Shas’s support or participation unless the status of yeshiva students is regulated,” Deri told the Haredi news outlet Kikar HaShabbat in an interview, without saying what he believed the timeline for such legislation should be.
The declaration follows a similar ultimatum from United Torah Judaism, the other major Haredi party, with which Shas signed a surplus-vote agreement this week ahead of the October 27 election.
“United Torah Judaism will not enter a government that does not actually pass the law regulating the status of yeshiva students, known as the draft law. Period,” UTJ chairman Yaakov Asher told Kikar HaShabbat on Monday.
“We do not belong to any bloc. Whoever wants us should come… and ask for our bloc’s support. That is the decision we have made for now,” he said.
Sharing a video of Deri’s interview on Wednesday, B’Yachad party leader Naftali Bennett warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would “continue to fund draft dodging” in exchange for the Shas chair’s support.
“A vote for Netanyahu, Smotrich, or Deri is a vote for draft dodging, for 150 days of reserve duty a year and billions annually from the pockets of reservists to draft dodgers,” Bennett wrote on X.
Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman said Deri admitted that “he will agree to form a government only if his puppet Netanyahu agrees to exempt all Haredim from conscription — permanently.”
In practice, Liberman said, this would mean “more burden on those who serve, hundreds more reserve duty days, and another extension of service for regular soldiers.”
Deri’s comments followed a Channel 12 report last month that UTJ would not oppose a government led by election frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot, amid lingering anger over Netanyahu’s failure to pass draft exemption legislation, a move that could potentially deprive the premier of crucial support needed to form a government.
While Eisenkot has pledged to end sweeping draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and said that no Haredi party currently meets his conditions for joining a government, he has also previously signaled openness to governing with Haredi parties, particularly Shas.
Meanwhile, the People of Israel party, led by Ofer Winter, has vowed to support Netanyahu to lead the next government, but will only join if a universal conscription law is passed first.
The High Court of Justice has repeatedly pressed the government to enforce Haredi enlistment after its 2024 ruling that there was no legal basis for blanket exemptions for yeshiva students. In July, the court froze legislation passed by the coalition that would have barred the arrest of Haredi draft dodgers for seven months while challenges to the law were considered.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders argue that compulsory military service threatens their religious way of life and the continuation of full-time Torah study. The issue has remained a major source of political and social tension and emerged as a central issue ahead of the October election, as the IDF has repeatedly noted its manpower deficit, and resentment has grown among Israelis who perform mandatory and reserve service.