Bereaved families, former officials and opposition leaders sharply condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday after he met with Shas leader Aryeh Deri and United Torah Judaism lawmaker Moshe Gafni to finalize a political deal aimed at preventing the Knesset from dissolving next week.
Under the emerging agreement, the coalition would advance several Haredi demands in exchange for the ultra-Orthodox parties dropping their threat to support early elections and continuing to back Netanyahu. Among the measures discussed were splitting the attorney general’s post, advancing a law to weaken the media, and moving ahead with a political inquiry committee. In return, the Haredi parties are said to be willing to give up the daycare subsidies bill and the kosher supervision bill.
The October Council, representing bereaved families, called the arrangement “not a political deal” but “blood bargaining.” It said Netanyahu and the Haredi parties were “trading truth for survival,” while Israel still has not investigated the October 7 massacre and families have spent nearly 1,000 days without answers. The group added that more than 2,000 dead and murdered Israelis were being treated as worth less than laws on draft evasion, kosher rules, political immunity, and dismantling law enforcement. Gadi Eisenkot said Netanyahu was unworthy of the heavy price the country has paid, accusing him of a “liquidation sale of Israel’s national interests.”
Yair Golan, head of The Democrats, said Netanyahu was “selling Israel for the Haredim” and sacrificing children, security and the future for “a few more days” in office. Benny Gantz said that in a broad Zionist government after elections, no one would hold the state hostage, and ultra-Orthodox parties would not be able to extort budgets for coalition survival. After the meeting, Gafni and Deri said Netanyahu had promised to push the requested laws quickly, and warned that if he did not, they would support dissolving the Knesset next week.
