Netanyahu urges haredi parties to reject Eisenkot coalition overtures

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to prevent haredi parties from joining a government led by Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot, warning that their influence could fade once a coalition approves its first budget. The ultra-Orthodox factions are taking those warnings seriously, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, but are also asking Netanyahu how he could offer them a different government without another election.

Netanyahu is contacting rabbis himself and dispatching emissaries to haredi leaders, the source said. His outreach extends beyond Rabbi Dov Lando and the senior Ashkenazi haredi leadership to rabbis further down the leadership hierarchy. Netanyahu believes some of these figures have stronger ties to the right-wing bloc and lead communities resistant to working with liberal left-wing parties.

In Netanyahu's circle, Lando is understood to be weighing the haredi community's interests without treating allegiance to the Right as automatic. Lando, the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, is represented by close associate and political operative David Shapira and Degel HaTorah chairman MK Yakov Asher. Senior Agudat Yisrael figures and the Gerrer Hassidic movement also influence decisions within United Torah Judaism, or UTJ.

Haredi political figures are meanwhile exploring different negotiating paths. Moti Babchik, an influential Agudat Yisrael figure close to the Gerrer Rebbe, is advancing the possibility of joining Eisenkot while seeking guarantees for haredi interests. Others in Agudat Yisrael, including MK Meir Porush, want tangible results before a coalition agreement is signed. They believe Eisenkot's bloc should first pass all or part of a military conscription law.

According to Likud sources, Netanyahu and his associates are warning that Eisenkot's coalition could retreat from its commitments after securing office and passing a budget. They argue it might fail to deliver the conscription legislation sought by haredi parties or advance measures concerning religion and state that those parties oppose. Their warning rests on the possibility that Ra'am and the Joint List could provide outside support, allowing the government to survive even if its haredi partners withdrew.

UTJ is especially uneasy about entering a coalition without Shas, which would leave it as the sole haredi partner alongside secular and liberal parties. Party officials fear that initial agreements would provide insufficient protection if disputes later emerged over conscription or religious issues. They regard Shas's participation as important to blocking policies contrary to their demands. A source familiar with the talks said resistance within UTJ is increasing to joining a government supported by Arab parties without Shas in the coalition.

Eisenkot and his associates want to secure UTJ's participation first, potentially with Ra'am abstaining in the vote to establish the government, and then bring Shas aboard. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman would prefer Shas to participate from the outset. Shas chairman Arye Deri has not yet decided.

For the haredi parties, Netanyahu's warnings leave the question of an alternative unresolved. They are asking whether he can assemble a government or persuade Eisenkot or another party in the change bloc to join a unity government under his leadership. There is currently no indication that Eisenkot is willing to pursue that option.