United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We have no trust, how can we go with you,” amid Netanyahu’s refusal to advance a daycare subsidy bill for ultra-Orthodox families. According to sources, Gafni also told him, “You promised the daycare centers and you are not delivering. What did we get from you? Nothing. You do not understand the street.”
Because the coalition lacks a majority, Gafni gave up the daycare subsidy demand and instead reached understandings on a Basic Law for Torah study and a bill freezing the detention of draft evaders, as previously reported by ynet. United Torah Judaism says it doubts Netanyahu will keep even those commitments, and said it will only return to voting with the coalition once the laws actually advance. Until then, the coalition has again pulled its own legislation from the agenda.
A statement from Gafni’s office said it does not generally comment on his conversations. Gafni and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri later issued a joint statement saying they met Netanyahu and delivered an “unequivocal” demand, בשם גדולי ישראל, to immediately move forward with the Torah study Basic Law and the bill stopping arrests of Torah students, through the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Knesset Committee this week. They warned that if there are no practical steps, they will support dissolving the Knesset next week. Netanyahu, they said, told them he is committed to passing the laws quickly.
After the report stirred a political uproar, Shas and United Torah Judaism denied there was any deal with Netanyahu, but their own wording acknowledged that their support for coalition legislation would return if the laws are advanced in practice. The arrangement would likely delay elections until the original date of July 15, while enabling passage of controversial measures including a bill to split the attorney general’s role and a political commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack.
The opposition sharply attacked the deal. Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu is “selling off the country,” while Benny Gantz said no one in a future broad Zionist government would hold the state hostage. Yisrael Beytenu politician Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of trading national interests for a more convenient election date, and Likud MK Dan Illouz criticized what he called a slap in the face to serving Israelis. Yair Golan and Naftali Bennett also condemned the arrangement.
