Report: Angry with Netanyahu, Haredi UTJ won’t oppose Eisenkot-led government

By Ariela Karmel

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28 September 2026, 9:26 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

United Torah Judaism would not oppose a government led by Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, in a potentially dramatic development that could imperil Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of forming a government after next month’s election, according to a Channel 12 report.

With Netanyahu’s coalition and the Zionist opposition bloc currently neck and neck in the polls, the ultra-Orthodox UTJ withholding its support from Netanyahu — whether by backing an Eisenkot-led government or simply declining to recommend either candidate for prime minister — would deprive him of a crucial part of the bloc he needs to return to power.

Until now, UTJ has been counted firmly within Netanyahu’s bloc, particularly as the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the military has emerged as a central election issue for opposition parties, including Yashar.

According to Channel 12, however, the Haredi party remains angry with Netanyahu over his failure to pass legislation enshrining sweeping military-service exemptions for yeshiva students, with the party reportedly willing to deny him another term as prime minister as a result, despite a series of measures his coalition passed to placate the ultra-Orthodox parties, including barring the arrest of Haredi draft dodgers, and transferring billions of shekels in funding for yeshivas and Haredi institutions.

While Eisenkot said yesterday that no Arab or ultra-Orthodox party currently meets his conditions for joining a government, he has previously appeared open to governing with Haredi parties, particularly Shas.

He has repeatedly said that any party that accepts his principles – including support for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, the Declaration of Independence and universal conscription, and recognition of Hamas as a terror group that must be destroyed – could join his coalition, though it remains unclear how the Haredi parties could acquiesce to at least some of those conditions, particularly universal conscription.