Israeli PM pressured as party threatens to quit cabinet

A member of Israel's religious-nationalist coalition has threatened to quit the cabinet and support an opposition motion to dissolve parliament tabled for next week, piling pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Latest opinion polls suggest that Netanyahu's coalition would lose power if an election was held today, with many voters unhappy over the continued war in the Gaza Strip prompted by the attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel in October 2023.

United Torah Judaism, one of two ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, said it would withdraw from the government unless it secured last-minute concessions formalising an exemption for ultra-Orthodox men from military service.

The opposition party Yesh Atid, led by former prime minister Yair Lapid, put forward a parliamentary vote for next week to topple the government, even as the Israeli army continues battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

It would require the support of 61 out of the 120 members of the parliament to succeed.

"This Knesset (parliament) is finished. It has nowhere to go," Lapid said.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has remained silent on the looming crisis.

A spokesperson for United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopf told Reuters the party would vote in favour of dissolving parliament unless exemption legislation was passed.

With a week until the vote, Netanyahu and his allies still have time to negotiate over an issue that has dogged the coalition for months.

A source close to the government said, on condition of anonymity, that negotiations within the coalition were continuing.

Netanyahu's coalition of secular conservative and ultra-Orthodox parties holds an eight-seat majority in parliament.

United Torah Judaism has seven seats while its ally, Shas, the other ultra-Orthodox party, has 11.

The coalition is sharply divided over whether young ultra-Orthodox men who are studying in religious seminaries should be exempt from mandatory military service.

Failing to pass an exemption risks a walkout by ultra-Orthodox MPs, while approving it could trigger a protest exit by secular parties.

Coalition member Ohad Tal of Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party criticised Goldknopf for threatening to trigger elections and called on the ultra-Orthodox MP to resign.

He urged others to negotiate a new arrangement but that a blanket exemption from military service could no longer stand.

Former Knesset member Ofer Shelah said Netanyahu was likely betting the ultra-Orthodox MPs were bluffing, given the polls suggested they faced defeat in any early election.

In March, ultra-Orthodox MPs threatened to bring down the government over the same issue, but time passed without any action.

Resentment over the informal exemption given to religious seminary students is growing and MPs from the ruling coalition and opposition ranks say it is no longer tenable.

Netanyahu won election in 2022 and does not have to return to the polls until 2026.

Historically, few Israeli governments serve a full term.

He has faced widespread criticism for failing to prevent the surprise October 2023 Hamas attack that killed about 1200 people, and is facing growing calls from protesters and families of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip to end the war to secure their release.

But some in his coalition say the war must continue until Hamas is eradicated.

Political analysts say that the ultra-Orthodox MPs could simply quit the government to protest their failure to secure concessions, without toppling the ruling coalition.