Resignation of ultra-Orthodox minister Goldknopf goes into effect

The resignation of Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, goes into effect on Sunday.

The banner headline of Hamodia, a newspaper linked to Goldknopf’s Gur Hasidic sect, details the reasons for Goldknopf’s resignation and quotes the outgoing minister as stating that his decision was “final.” The front page of Sunday’s edition deals with Goldknopf’s resignation rather than the ongoing war between Israel and Iran.

In a post on X, Yediot Aharonot reporter Shilo Fried notes that members of Gur have pushed the group’s leadership to have Goldknopf reverse his move and that Hamodia’s coverage is meant to emphasize that the decision remains unchanged.

Goldknopf resigned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Thursday afternoon, after failing to pass a bill to dissolve the Knesset in an overnight vote.

His Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction of UTJ largely supported the dissolution and opposed a compromise on Haredi military conscription that Shas and the Degel Hatorah faction (part of the UTJ alliance) agreed to with Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, which paved the way for the measure’s defeat.

In a letter to Netanyahu, Goldknopf said the premier had been warned that if no progress were made on legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service by early June, “significant steps” would be taken against the coalition.

Despite Goldknopf’s position, Agudat Yisrael was ultimately split both on the bill to dissolve the Knesset, with two out its three MKs voting in favor and one against, and in its response to the measure’s failure.

According to the Ynet news site, MK Yisrael Eichler, who voted against the Knesset dissolution bill, may be tapped to replace Goldknopf in the cabinet.