Shas spokesman signals potential break with PM after war, says public expects ‘new leadership’

In a possible indication that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be losing support among his key political allies following the colossal failures of October 7, the spokesperson for the Shas coalition party has said over the weekend that after the war, “most of the public expects to see a new, young” leadership and not “what we have known.”

Asher Medina makes the remarks in a column in the Haderech newspaper, the official mouthpiece for his ultra-Orthodox party, which has loyally supported and partnered with Netanyahu for many years and is part of a bloc of religious and right-wing parties that has promised for years to only join a Netanyahu-led government.

“Netanyahu may get good grades for the managing of the war,” he writes, “but on the day after, most of the public expects to see a new, young, determined, and mainly groundbreaking leadership. No longer what we have known. That has been enough for us.”

Medina notes that opinion polls have over the past few months consistently predicted a downfall for Netanyahu’s Likud party and the pro-Netanyahu bloc if elections are held.

After his column draws media attention, Medina tells Hebrew media outlets that he didn’t say that Shas’s position is that Netanyahu should be replaced. He says he wrote “a political commentary column, presenting my own opinion,” adding that most of it praised the premier. He says Shas “supports the prime minister and unity and definitely isn’t focusing on political questions.”