Netanyahu’s Coalition Teeters: Ultra-Orthodox Ally Holds Key to Israeli PM’s Survival

Will Aryeh Deri abandon the currently struggling Benjamin Netanyahu? After the withdrawal of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party from the executive and Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition on Tuesday, the leader of the Shass party announced the next day that his party was leaving the government because of a measure carried by the Prime Minister’s office aimed at incorporating more religious students into the ranks of the army, a population hitherto exempted from military service, reports France24. Deduction: the political survival of the Prime Minister now depends on the Shass party, which represents the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Jews.

"No one believes in a breakup," reacts Denis Charbit, professor of political science at the Open University of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu and Aryeh Deri get along very well. They are both veterans of Israeli politics." The author of "Israel, the Impossible Normal State" (ed. Calmann-Levy, 2024) continues: "We can count on the fingers of one hand the deputies who have been in the Knesset since the 1990s. Netanyahu and Deri have this long experience that is lacking in the young wolves who have been on the benches for barely a decade." According to the researcher, there is "a real complicity between the two men", even a "personal chemistry", even though the Israeli Prime Minister "does not have a particular esteem for the ultra-Orthodox leaders in general".

Charbit is convinced that the leader of the Shass party "does not want to leave Benjamin Netanyahu alone facing Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich", two figures of the Israeli far right, respectively Minister of National Security and Minister of Finance. Deri is also invited to participate in the State Security Cabinet. "They are all three religious, but Deri does not share the same spiritual references," says the researcher. In addition, the leader of the Shass party said on Wednesday that he would continue to support the Knesset, the Parliament. He could therefore avoid early elections for the Prime Minister.