Netanyahu said worried Gur Hasidim won’t vote as allies push small parties to drop out

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly concerned that members of the largest and most influential Hasidic sect in Israel do not plan to vote in the upcoming election, Israeli television reported Wednesday, amid anger over the failure of the Netanyahu government and the Haredi parties to secure a law exempting ultra-Orthodox youth from the military draft.

Netanyahu’s reported concerns come as the October 27 election approaches, with polls consistently placing the bloc of parties loyal to the prime minister well short of the 61 seats needed to form a government.

The unsourced Channel 12 news report said the Gur Hasidim, who generally follow their rabbinical leaders, are unlikely to vote for United Torah Judaism, their traditional political home and a long-time ally of Netanyahu, and may instead stay home or cast protest votes for marginal parties unlikely to pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold on October 27.

Former UTJ chief Yitzhak Goldknopf, an adherent of the sect, resigned as housing minister last year amid anger over the issue, signaling the group’s unhappiness with Netanyahu.

Gur sources confirmed to Channel 12 that there was widespread anger and said that there were no efforts to mobilize members to vote in the coming elections. The report said there were some 30,000 potential Gur Hasidic voters.

Israel’s two major Haredi parties have vowed not to join a government unless it passes an exemption law. Ultra-Orthodox leaders argue that compulsory military service threatens their religious way of life and the continuation of full-time Torah study.

The High Court of Justice has repeatedly pressed the government to enforce Haredi enlistment after its 2024 ruling that there was no legal basis for blanket exemptions for yeshiva students. In July, the court froze legislation passed by the coalition that would have barred the arrest of Haredi draft dodgers for seven months while challenges to the law were considered.

The issue has remained a major source of political and social tension and emerged as a central issue ahead of the October election, as the IDF has repeatedly noted its manpower deficit, and resentment has grown among Israelis who perform mandatory and reserve service.

‘Intend to win’

Also Wednesday, Netanyahu declined to say whether he would retire from political life if he loses the upcoming election, in a rare interview with the Kan public broadcaster.

The prime minister rarely gives interviews to Israeli outlets other than the pro-government Channel 14 outlet.

“I intend to win, and I don’t want to get into hypotheticals,” said Netanyahu, who will turn 77 a week before the vote, when asked directly whether he would quit politics following a defeat.

“You know, I’ve been written off so many times already,” he added, saying he approaches every election as though he will lose unless he campaigns with “full force.”

The prime minister’s Likud and its allies have been mounting an aggressive campaign to pressure smaller right-wing parties to withdraw from the election, fearing they could siphon off support from established parties and cost the Netanyahu-led bloc crucial seats if they fail to cross the electoral threshold.

After succeeding in getting Davidi Ben Zion, No. 8 on Ofer Winter’s People of Israel slate, to withdraw on Tuesday, the campaign is now targeting Laly Derai, the party’s No. 6 candidate and a bereaved mother whose son, IDF Staff Sgt. Saadia Derai, was killed fighting in Gaza.

Signs and billboards calling on Derai to withdraw have been erected near her home in the West Bank settlement of Eli in videos circulated online. People of Israel has been hovering around the 3.25 percent electoral threshold in recent polls.

ב״עמך ישראל״ טוענים: קמפיין הלחץ האישי שהוביל לפרישתו של דווידי בן ציון לא נעצר בו, והוא לא היחיד שנמצא על הכוונת. לדבריהם, גם ללי דרעי, אם שכולה, ומועמדים נוספים עוברים כעת ״טיפול אישי״ באותן שיטות. בסביבת עופר וינטר משווים את המתרחש ללחצים שהופעלו על עידית סילמן, ניר אורבך… pic.twitter.com/OIwGErHiyK

— Anna Rayva-Barsky אנה ברסקי (@AnnaBarskiy) October 13, 2026

Likud and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party are also pressuring the newly formed Haredi Public party to withdraw, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Times of Israel.

Although polling below the threshold, the party threatens to siphon votes from the bloc’s ultra-Orthodox allies, Shas and United Torah Judaism. Unlike the established Haredi parties, the Haredi Public advocates military service, workforce integration, and secular education, and includes women on its electoral slate.

“There is no point in pressuring the Haredi Public to drop out of the elections,” the party said in a statement, insisting it has a responsibility to “the tens of thousands of Haredim who want new and responsible leadership that will address the fundamental problems facing our society.”

Smotrich’s own party has struggled to remain above the electoral threshold.

Ofer Winter said his People of Israel party will remain in the race, despite the campaign: “We will not give in,” the party leader said. “We will run to the finish with all our strength.”

“In recent weeks, we have witnessed a coordinated campaign of smears, threats and vicious attacks,” Winter said in a statement to the press. He claims it is “funded with tens of millions of shekels from the state budget, all to hurt People of Israel.”

Winter said signs calling on candidates to quit were put up “on every corner” in the communities where they live.

“What do these signs say? That good people, some of whom lost what was dearest to them for the country, or who served hundreds of days in reserve duty during the war, are ‘endangering the State of Israel,’” he said. “And why? Only because they exercised the most basic democratic right: the right to be elected.”

Winter said Ben Zion told him that he and his wife “can no longer withstand this pressure.” He added: “I embrace Davidi and his family, and respect his decision.”