Shas walks back threat to topple government if draft exemption bill not passed soon

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party backs down from a threat to topple the government unless it passes a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.

Speaking with Channel 12, Shas spokesman Asher Medina states that his party “will not topple the right-wing government. There is no threat and no ultimatum.”

Speaking with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Berama yesterday, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two months to resolve the status of yeshiva students, warning that if the matter is “not resolved, we’ll go to elections.”

Following Deri’s statement, Shas MK Erez Malul said in an interview with Kan radio on Tuesday evening that without his party, Netanyahu does not have the votes to pass a budget.

“United Torah Judaism will not vote in favor of the budget, Ben Gvir is in the opposition. How will this pass? This is not a threat, this is an ultimatum,” he said.

The 2025 state budget must be passed by the end of March or the government will automatically fall, triggering early elections.

While the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism party has previously also linked threats to the budget to the draft issue, the party’s non-Hasidic Degel HaTorah faction appeared to reject such a move today.

Addressing a conference in the southern city of Eilat this afternoon, Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev stated that the government is “stable” and will not fall because “there is no other alternative.”

According to the pro-government Channel 14, Netanyahu warned the leaders of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox parties that “this is not the time for threats or inflammatory rhetoric.”