From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Coalition MKs opposed to Haredi draft bill said to get threatening calls from PM’s circle
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Some coalition lawmakers who have expressed public opposition to the government’s proposed bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment have been contacted by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle who have hinted at potential consequences should they continue to speak out against the legislation, the Walla news site reports.
Multiple coalition MKs, including from within Netanyahu’s Likud party, have come out against the bill, casting doubt on its passage.
Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who was recently deposed as chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee tasked with shaping the bill, warned that Netanyahu’s coalition is set to exert significant pressure on coalition lawmakers who are “strongly opposed” to the controversial legislation.
Asked if he or any of his colleagues had been threatened in such a way, Likud MK Dan Illouz, a vocal critic of the legislation, tells The Times of Israel that “I haven’t seen anything like that.”
“I haven’t been approached, and I haven’t heard of other people being approached. I imagine that there will be, you call it pressure or threats or things like that,” Illouz said.
“I think it’s healthy in politics for people to try to convince each other. And so if people have different views, they’ll try to convince each other. And yes, when the prime minister is the one trying to convince you, there is a certain amount of, I don’t know if I want to call it pressure, but his stature gives a certain amount of weight to his positions. And so, yes, you need to have a very strong shoulder in order to be able to keep your positions if you’re not convinced.”
Another MK also tells The Times of Israel that they have not come under any pressure, although a source with direct knowledge of the matter confirms that some opponents of the bill have been subjected to threatening calls.
The Times of Israel Community.