UTJ’s Goldknopf resigns from cabinet after Knesset fails to pass dissolution bill
Chairman of ultra-Orthodox party says enlistment compromise fails to live up to PM’s promises, says he can ‘no longer take part as a member of this government’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, 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.
Goldknopf’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction of UTJ 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.
Both the Shas party and the Degel Hatorah faction withdrew their support for the dissolution bill after marathon talks netted an agreement with Edelstein on a softened version of a bill regulating mandatory enlistment requirements within the ultra-Orthodox community and punishing draft dodgers.
After meeting Edelstein earlier in the evening, the ultra-Orthodox parties confirmed after midnight that “understandings have been reached regarding the principles for the law preserving the status of yeshiva students.”
Agudat Israel balked at the compromise, stating that there had yet to be “even a written offer with details of the law regulating the status of yeshiva students.”
The ultra-Orthodox Behadrei Haredim news site reported on Thursday that the new outline stipulates that the enlistment law will be a temporary measure lasting for only six years, or four if it fails to meet its conscription goals.
While sanctions connected to academic study subsidies, international travel and driver’s licenses would be imposed on draft dodgers immediately, others relating to daycare and public transportation subsidies would be delayed.
Institutional sanctions on yeshivas that fail to provide enough soldiers would also be imposed, including up to 50 percent of a yeshiva’s budget if it provides less than 95% of its annual conscription target and all of its budget if it does not reach 75%.
Should the government be unable to reach its enlistment targets in two years, additional sanctions would take effect, including excluding draft dodgers from the housing lottery.
According to Goldknopf, these understandings do not live up to the promises made by Netanyahu in his coalition agreement with UTJ and he can therefore “no longer take part as a member of this government.”
Goldknopf expanded on his criticism of Netanyahu in an interview with the Haredi weekly Mishpacha, stating that the prime minister was “trying to create a split within Haredi Judaism, which is an indescribable disgrace.”
“We will have to think about everything related to him ahead of the next elections. Woe to the man who tries to divide us from within,” he declared, arguing that the coalition relies on Haredi support but also does “everything to harm and persecute us.”
“We receive nothing. Where is our partnership in this government>” he asked, adding that “whoever knows how to satisfy the needs of Haredi Judaism will have our support.”
Goldknopf’s move — which came after a party official told Haaretz that if Degel HaTorah and Shas opposed the dissolution measure, his faction’s ministers would resign — will force UTJ lawmaker Eliyahu Baruchi out of the Knesset under the so-called Norwegian Law, Haaretz reported.
According to the Hebrew daily, in order to retain parity between the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev will also resign, pushing out MK Moshe Roth.
Roth confirmed the report but said that no final move would be made without the support of the party’s rabbinical leadership.
Goldknopf’s resignation also highlights divides within Agudat Yisrael.
The Hasidic faction was 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.
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush, Agudat Yisrael’s other minister, has not announced his own resignation, with Haaretz reporting that he will likely retain his position in the cabinet.
A spokesman for Porush did not respond to The Times of Israel’s request for comment.
Porush was reported to have sought to reverse his party’s decision to support the Knesset dissolution bill on behalf of several senior rabbis opposed to the move, including Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the leader of the Belz Hasidic sect, who believes that the government should not be brought down in the middle of a war.
Porush’s office denied the report earlier this week.
In March, Goldknopf symbolically resigned from his secondary ministerial position as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, citing the government’s lack of progress toward passing the bill his party seeks exempting yeshiva students from military conscription.
Despite Goldknopf’s resignation, United Torah Judaism remains a member of the coalition.
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