‘Drunk on victory’: Ultra-Orthodox paper warns Netanyahu he could lose power over draft exemption law

Benjamin Netanyahu’s long and storied career as prime minister may be coming to an end, Yated Ne’eman, the mouthpiece of the ultra-Orthodox Degel Hatorah Knesset faction, implies in a front-page editorial titled “Lessons from the past.”

Degel Hatorah is one of the two factions that comprise the United Torah Judaism party, a key Netanyahu ally.

Likening the prime minister to the great British wartime leader Winston Churchill, the editorial notes that Churchill “was a great statesman, a respected politician, and a brilliant commander” who foresaw threats others dismissed and “led Britain to victory in the war against the cruel enemy that threatened his country and the world.”

But then, his popularity declined. “Drunk on victory, he underestimated the intensity of the unrest and made empty promises of change. He did not listen to the needs of the exhausted people, and instead of making repairs at home, he sold them victory speeches.”

The newspaper said, “It quickly became clear that no matter how brilliant and talented his performance was during a war, it was not enough to define him as a ‘leader.’ Indeed, some people believed that Churchill was the right person during the war – but they also understood that he was not exactly the right leader for the period after it.”

Meanwhile, Yated Ne’eman noted, “his political rival, the Labour Party, was quietly building an alternative government.”

Months after leading the UK to victory over Nazi Germany, Churchill was voted out of power by a British public seen as more concerned about the postwar future than the achievements of the war.

The Haredi United Torah Judaism and Shas parties have expressed intense frustration with Netanyahu over his failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from mandatory military service, a central demand of both parties.

Speaking with Kan Radio on Tuesday, a senior ultra-Orthodox political official stated that his allies had “lost faith” in the coalition regarding the Haredi conscription issue as they wait for Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein to finally present his revised enlistment bill to lawmakers.

“Everything that was promised to us on the eve of the attack on Iran has been canceled. We have lost trust in them,” the senior Haredi source told the national broadcaster.

Both UTJ and Shas are engaged in a legislative boycott until Edelstein presents lawmakers with his bill.