Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition has been plunged into renewed instability following the resignation of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party from the government over a contentious dispute regarding mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men. Shas announced on Wednesday that it was relinquishing all of its cabinet positions, including key ministerial posts, but stressed that it would not formally join the opposition.
The party’s departure follows a similar move by United Torah Judaism (UTJ), another ultra-Orthodox faction, which left the government a day earlier over the same issue. Combined, the two parties hold 18 seats in the 120-member Knesset — Shas with 11 and UTJ with 7 — and their exit casts doubt over Netanyahu’s ability to maintain a functional majority. While some reports initially suggested the prime minister had lost his parliamentary majority, others, including Ynet News, indicated that Shas would continue to support the coalition in key votes, preserving a razor-thin 61-seat majority.
Seven ministers and deputy ministers from Shas are expected to resign, including Interior Minister Moshe Arbel and Health Minister Uriel Buso. From UTJ, the resignations of the deputy transport minister and the minister for Jerusalem affairs are also anticipated, though legal processes may delay their formal departure for up to 48 hours, providing Netanyahu with a narrow window to propose a compromise and retain their support.
The crisis centers on the long-standing exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from mandatory military service — a deeply divisive issue in Israeli politics that has resurfaced with urgency amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. Military leaders have warned of a critical shortage of combat-ready soldiers, intensifying calls to end the broad exemption for yeshiva students, many of whom spend years in full-time religious study.
That exemption officially expired last year, and in the absence of new legislation to renew it, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that ultra-Orthodox men must now be subject to conscription like other citizens. The ruling has ignited fierce backlash from ultra-Orthodox communities, who argue that military service threatens their religious way of life, particularly due to the integration of men and women in the military.
Netanyahu now faces a daunting challenge: how to reconcile the demands of his ultra-Orthodox allies with the legal and security pressures demanding broader conscription. With the Knesset’s summer recess set to begin at the end of July, the prime minister is expected to use the three-month break to negotiate a new draft law that could appease both sides. If successful, Shas and UTJ could return to the governing coalition later this year.
In the meantime, Netanyahu’s remaining coalition—comprised of his Likud party, the far-right Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit factions, the right-wing New Hope party, and the extremist Noam party—faces the prospect of operating as a minority government. While this presents a significant political risk, both Shas and UTJ have signaled they do not intend to bring down the government entirely, preferring instead to exert pressure from the outside to secure a favorable outcome on the military draft issue.
The controversy has exposed deep fissures within Netanyahu’s right-wing religious alliance, which has relied heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties to maintain power. As pressure mounts from the courts, the military, and secular segments of Israeli society, the prime minister’s ability to navigate the crisis may determine not only the survival of his government but also the long-term stability of Israel’s coalition politics.
