How ultra-Orthodox Jews could imperil Netanyahu’s power
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2024
⏱️ 20 minutes
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Summary
Today, how ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel could upend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.
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Last Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court suspended subsidies for ultra-Orthodox Jews studying in yeshivas instead of serving in the military. This comes at a time of growing frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government. Protests over the weekend were fueled by anti-government sentiment and frustration from those who want to see Israeli hostages returned from Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
Today, reporter Loveday Morris breaks down the impact of the court’s decision, the Israeli protests that started this weekend and the potential of Netanyahu losing power.
Today’s show was produced by Ariel Plotnick. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Lucy Perkins. Thanks also to Bishop Sand and Jesse Mesner-Hage.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Prime Minister Benjamin Netnya, who is the longest serving leader in Israel's history. |
| 0:08.0 | But nearly six months into Israel's war against Hamas, cracks have formed in the political coalition keeping him in power. |
| 0:16.2 | On Thursday, Israel's Supreme Court issued a ruling that could imperil Netanyahu. |
| 0:21.9 | It was about Israel's mandatory draft. Ultra-Orthodox Jews who study at |
| 0:26.4 | religious schools have pretty much always been exempt from military service. |
| 0:31.0 | But that protection is up in the air now. The court suspended government funding for those ultra-Orthodox students. |
| 0:38.0 | And lawmakers missed today's deadline to pass a new law that would continue to protect the community from the draft. |
| 0:46.5 | It's a conflict that really goes back to the founding of Israel and it's been a bubbling |
| 0:50.6 | issue for so long within Israel and kind of gets at the heart of this kind of struggle |
| 0:56.1 | between ultra-religious and secular in the country. |
| 1:00.4 | You know, on October the 7th we really had this sense of unity in the country and everyone coming together and sort of a hiatus from all these kind of fault lines that were existing before but now we're really starting to see those bubble back again. |
| 1:13.0 | Love Day Morris is a foreign correspondent at the post and she has been reporting on the |
| 1:18.2 | potential implications for Netniahoo. Last week's ruling has outraged ultra-Orthodox leaders. |
| 1:25.0 | Basically within Netanyahu's ruling coalition, he relies on these ultra-Orthodox parties for support and when he made this government he gave |
| 1:35.9 | them big promises of finding a new law that would satisfy their desires when it came to military service and that's something that they're very anti because they see it as really a threat to their existence |
| 1:50.0 | in some ways they're worried that men will go off and join their military and |
| 1:54.4 | they'll be exposed to outside influences and potentially no longer be so |
| 2:01.6 | religious so they see it as a real existential issue no longer be so religious. |
| 2:03.0 | So they see it as a real existential issue. |
| 2:05.6 | And yes, Nant-Yahos rely on them for their support. |
| 2:09.6 | From the Newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 2:18.0 | I am Martine Powers. |
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