Netanyahu under mounting political pressure after party quits

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:01Is it the beginning of the end for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

00:07Monday evening, two ultra-Orthodox parties of the United Torah Judaism movement announced

00:12they were quitting his government and his coalition.

00:15At the heart of the fracture, mandatory military service.

00:19Since 1948, members of the ultra-Orthodox community have been exempted from enlisting

00:24as long as they dedicated themselves full-time to religious studies.

00:28An unwritten arrangement which the UTJ has demanded be set in stone via law.

00:33However, with Israel's war on Gaza still raging on, the army needs manpower.

00:38In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that this decades-old practice was no longer valid

00:44and the judicial authorities in the army have recently begun to take action

00:48against those who are now considered deserters.

00:51They want to recruit us into the army and destroy us.

00:55Thank God we welcome the decision of our representatives in the Knesset, for they have returned to us.

01:00They made the best decision they could have made, and I hope the State of Israel fails.

01:05There's no way the two sides will ever meet.

01:08They've been trying for 80 years and it didn't work.

01:10This is the moment of truth. Zero hour.

01:12And God help us that it won't pass without bloodshed.

01:15The issue of mandatory military service has long since divided Israeli Jews.

01:21Ultra-Orthodox refusal to serve has only widened the rift.

01:25Among the political parties representing the religious group are seven deputies from Unified Torah Judaism,

01:31a key governing partner for the Prime Minister, which helped him secure a comfortable 68-seat majority out of the 120 available in the Knesset.

01:40While UTJ's departure does not immediately threaten Netanyahu's rule,

01:45Shaz, the other Orthodox party with 11 representatives in Parliament, now controls the coalition's destiny.

01:52Shaz's

02:05полож strengthening

Category

Transcript

Recommended