(Adnkronos) – The ultra-Orthodox Jewish party United Torah Judaism, a long-time ally of outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has refused to recommend him to remain Prime Minister of Israel to President Isaac Herzog as part of post-election consultations for the formation of a new government. The party, which won seven seats out of 120 in the Knesset, informed Herzog “that it had decided not to recommend any Knesset member to form a government,” the president’s office said in a statement. It also did not side with opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, who nevertheless seems to have increasing chances of reaching an agreement to govern.
The party represents ultra-Orthodox Jews of Ashkenazi origin, who mostly come from or have roots in Europe, as well as Shas, which represents the same community but of Sephardic descent, or mostly Middle Eastern and North African. Both have been supported by Netanyahu in their push to maintain military service exemption for religious students, but while maintaining the exemption, the outgoing prime minister did not enshrine it into law, facing strong resentment from many other Israelis, given that reservists perform multiple tours of duty due to wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. “In any government that will be formed, our immediate point will be the resolution of the status of Torah students,” said United Torah Judaism legislator Isaac Pindrus.
Eisenkot, a former military leader who seeks to unite the center and center-right, has been adamant about stopping military service exemptions. Some of his opposition allies have sharply criticized the ultra-Orthodox as selfish. Some observers believe that Utj is only trying to punish Netanyahu and show that its votes cannot be taken for granted, but that the party could still support his government if he were to form one. Today, Herzog will meet with representatives of the main parties before tasking a legislator to form a government: he generally bases his decision on which person receives the most recommendations from the parties, so it is likely that he will mandate Eisenkot, who will then have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension.
