Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot has decided to concentrate his efforts on building a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties, Channel 12 reported on Friday, a day before this article's publication. The move brings him closer to the approach championed by Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, who rejects the idea of a government that depends on Arab-led parties.
Eisenkot was tapped by President Isaac Herzog to make the first attempt at forming a government. He had initially hoped to assemble a coalition around the four Jewish-led parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc, but together they hold only 48 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, leaving them short of a majority without backing from Arab-led parties or other partners.
Liberman has warned that such a government would quickly fall apart and end up strengthening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc. He has instead urged the opposition parties to reach a 61-seat majority through agreements with the Haredi parties.
United Torah Judaism has already started exploring a possible deal with Eisenkot's bloc. Party officials have acknowledged preliminary contacts and laid out demands concerning the military draft, education funding and religion-state issues. Shas, in contrast, has publicly reaffirmed its support for Netanyahu and insists it is not negotiating with any rival bloc, complicating Eisenkot's path to 61 seats.
According to Channel 12, Yashar still intends to keep the door open for both Likud and the far-right Religious Zionism party to join a prospective government, while ruling out the far-right Otzma Yehudit party. Yashar is expected to meet representatives of Netanyahu's Likud next week. Those talks would restart contacts that collapsed earlier this week, when Yashar called off a planned meeting over what it described as Netanyahu's "divisive" speech at the opening ceremony of the 26th Knesset, in which he accused the Arab parties of wanting Israel's destruction. Eisenkot has vowed not to serve under Netanyahu, while the caretaker prime minister insists on leading any "unity" government, making that scenario highly unlikely.
Separately, Channel 13 reported Friday that UTJ is internally debating whether to enter an Eisenkot-led government even without first securing a guaranteed military exemption for yeshiva students. As an interim arrangement, Haredi representatives are reportedly seeking a one-year halt to the mandatory enlistment of yeshiva students, a freeze on arrests during that period and the lifting of sanctions imposed on Haredi draft evaders. The network said the demands face significant legal obstacles, an issue that has also come up in consultations between anti-Netanyahu bloc members and legal teams experienced in High Court litigation.
The report followed a Channel 12 account a day earlier that UTJ's Hasidic leadership was weighing a demand that all 48 lawmakers in Eisenkot's four-party bloc commit to backing legislation exempting Haredi men from military service, potentially alongside an override clause meant to stop the High Court from striking it down. UTJ members who favor a deal believe the party could deliver a majority to the anti-Netanyahu bloc despite the uncertainty over a draft law, in exchange for coalition posts and funding. Some also view joining such a government as a way to normalize Haredi parties as coalition partners beyond Netanyahu's bloc and to ease political pressure for broad Haredi enlistment.
Earlier this week, Liberman acknowledged that the election outcome had forced his party to reconsider its pre-election demand for universal military service, arguing that the opposition's 48 seats meant compromise was unavoidable. He said any new enlistment framework would need to withstand High Court scrutiny and win the support of UTJ spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando. In a recent meeting with UTJ chairman Yaakov Asher, Liberman reportedly said the sides could try to craft an exemption arrangement while conceding it could run into legal obstacles.
The final decision inside UTJ is also expected to be shaped by Lando. Channel 13 reported that some in the party believe Eisenkot should be given a chance to form a government after Netanyahu failed to resolve the draft issue, with the option of toppling the coalition later if needed. Shas, meanwhile, is not coordinating its position with UTJ, and its chairman Aryeh Deri reportedly believes negotiations with Liberman will ultimately fail.
