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Academics have suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will side with his partners in the "extreme right-wing coalition" in the crisis of recruiting ultra-Orthodox Jews, even if it requires the exit of War Council Minister Benny Gantz.

The academic and expert on Israeli affairs, Dr. Muhannad Mustafa, said that Netanyahu is facing the biggest political crisis that exceeds his crisis with Washington, believing that he will prefer to go for a law that is largely consistent with the aspirations of the religious parties, even if it costs him the withdrawal of Gantz, who has been a political, social, and international cover for the “right-wing” government since the beginning of the war. .

The second scenario - which Mustafa rules out happening - is to adopt a law that is closer to the secular parties, which will lead to the loss of the religious parties and the fall of the government.

Netanyahu is also trying to avoid going to early elections, which implicitly means stopping the war on Gaza, in addition to the fall of him and the “right-wing” camp and the formation of an alternative government headed by Gantz, according to the expert on Israeli affairs.

Mustafa confirms that the current crisis comes in the context of the occupation army’s need for reserve soldiers, after neglecting this issue, including the recruitment of Haredim, pointing out that Israel has a final opportunity to legislate the law after the Supreme Court overturned previous laws.

He adds that Netanyahu's government is obligated to enact this law, "and without it, the government will not be able to exempt the Haredim," and it must present the law to the Knesset next June to vote on it.

"Political opportunism"

In turn, Dr. Hassan Ayoub, professor of political science at An-Najah University in Palestine, confirms that the Haredi recruitment crisis highlights the extent of political opportunism, whether on the part of Netanyahu or his partners in the coalition or the opposition.

He confirms that the crisis is not only related to military calculations in light of the army’s need for more manpower, but there is an economic aspect related to the state budget, before summarizing the scene as a crisis defined by the state itself.

He believes that the crisis will cast a shadow by creating a rift in Israeli society between the liberal secular side and the religious side, adding that it is difficult to get out of this impasse and stressing the necessity of concluding a new deal.

The Palestinian academic believes that the issue of Haredi recruitment seriously threatens the survival of Netanyahu's government because all parties have become entrenched and extremist in a way that does not seem to have a way out, ruling out that Netanyahu will escape the pressure of this crisis.

Who are the Haredim?

Regarding the nature of these religious parties, Mustafa explains that the Haredim constitute 13% of Israeli society and are expected to reach 20% in 2050.

He added that it is an extremist religious group that does not recognize Zionism and lives in geographically isolated neighborhoods that differ in their dress. It has succeeded in integrating while preserving its political and cultural interests, especially education in closed neighborhoods.

He shows that the Haredi group is one of the highest groups in terms of population growth, as the rate of birth of Haredi women is between 7 and 8 children. They also do not study English, mathematics, and science, and are limited to religious curricula. “Therefore, they are uneducated, uncultured, unproductive, and consuming, and are not integrated into the economy.” "Israeli."

It should be noted that Netanyahu proposed - in his meeting with the government's legal advisor - to recruit 2,500 Haredim annually, while the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews (the Eastern Jewish sect), Yitzhak Yosef, called on his supporters to leave Israel if they were forced to perform military service.

Source: Al Jazeera