The Council of Torah Sages of the Agudat Yisrael party has announced its support for dissolving the Knesset, amid rising tensions between ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) factions and Netanyahu’s Likud party over legislation that would exempt Haredim from compulsory military service.
In an official statement on Thursday, the Council of Torah Sages affirmed that its representatives have been tasked with submitting a bill to dissolve the Knesset. The decision followed a meeting held in the Moshav of Ora, southwest of occupied Jerusalem, where the party’s senior religious leadership convened to ratify the move.
The council’s secretary declared:
“It is no longer appropriate to remain in a government that contributes to the oppression and violation of the Torah world.”
This announcement follows a separate decision by the Shas party bloc—another major Haredi faction—to support the vote for dissolving the Knesset. The decision came during a Wednesday evening meeting convened by party leader Aryeh Deri.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after meeting with Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein, claimed that a resolution to the crisis was still possible.
However, senior religious authorities within United Torah Judaism—including the Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions—have rejected the idea of resuming direct talks with Netanyahu, saying such discussions are now “futile.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich admitted on Wednesday that the ongoing government crisis over the military draft law is “severe.”
“The situation is dangerous. We are on the brink of elections, which—God forbid—could mean halting and losing the war,” he warned during a meeting with his Religious Zionist Party members.
Smotrich urged his colleagues to avoid public interviews and instead focus on stabilising the coalition.
The political crisis in the occupying entity has reached a boiling point following the refusal of two influential Haredi-Lithuanian rabbis—Rabbi Dov Landau and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch—to meet with Netanyahu regarding the draft law. They stressed that continuing the dialogue is pointless.
Israeli media previously reported that the Shas party, which backs the Haredi cause, has agreed to join United Torah Judaism in efforts to dissolve the Knesset and bring down Netanyahu’s government.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli opposition parties—including Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid and Yisrael Beiteinu led by former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman—announced plans to submit bills next week calling for the Knesset’s dissolution.
According to reports from Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz, several Haredi rabbis have called for withdrawal from the government over the stalemate surrounding the exemption bill. One rabbi reportedly issued direct instructions to a party to support the dissolution vote for the same reason.
