Haredim

If Israel ends up with a unity government, the country will get moderation whether it voted for it or not. The majority Zionist public will land in the middle for lack of anywhere else to go.

Neither party has committed to joining only a Netanyahu-led coalition, and Shas’s spiritual leader has indicated that he would be open to joining a government led by Eisenkot.

In Umm al-Fahm, turnout reached 56.1% by 6 p.m., compared with a final turnout of 51.33% in 2022, an increase of 4.77 percentage points, with several hours of voting still remaining.

When a group of young men was asked whether some yeshiva students wanted to enlist but refrained because their rabbis forbade it, several agreed, with one answering, “of course.”

The idea that those who do not serve should not be fed has a pedigree — Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler — and a Jewish history that Israel, of all countries, should remember. The strategy never succeeds.

Moti Leitner says his Haredi Public Party is gaining support despite pressure to withdraw, and insists haredi men who do not study Torah should enlist.

In a recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, a proposition that the next government should draft haredim equally received the most support among a series of propositions.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara urged the High Court to consider restricting tax and transport benefits for draft evaders, citing government inaction and the IDF's urgent manpower needs.

Police have deemed the demonstration illegal and are on the scene directing traffic to alternative routes, clearing the road, and restoring public order.

This systemic self-destructive behavior of Israeli governments, letting one group decide and legislate what is religiously (and therefore civically) acceptable, is the root of today's inequality.