Shas to recommend Netanyahu as next prime minister — reports

By Stav Levaton

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Today, 3:22 pm

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Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Shas party chair Aryeh Deri (left). (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90, Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shas is expected to recommend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Isaac Herzog as the lawmaker who should be tasked with forming the next government, Hebrew media reports, despite speculation that the ultra-Orthodox party could instead align with the opposition bloc led by Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot.

Before the election, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri declared that the party would not join or support the next government unless it passes legislation preserving sweeping military service exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students.

Netanyahu’s government failed to pass such an exemption law during its four-year term, instead passing a temporary measure to ban the arrest of Haredi draft evaders, which was later frozen by the High Court of Justice.