The crisis came from an unexpected direction.

For months - basically since the beginning of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government in June 2021 - there has been speculation in Israel about how long the ideologically heterogeneous eight-party coalition will last and who might bring it down.

Home Secretary Ayelet Shaked, who has positioned herself as a right-wing hardliner, and centrist Defense Secretary Benny Gantz, who allegedly still harbors aspirations to become head of government himself, were frequently mentioned.

But the left-wing coalition partners, who had to put up with several substantive defeats against Shaked, for example, were also considered shaky candidates.

Christian Meier

Political correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.

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Comparatively unsuspicious was the parliamentarian who has now withdrawn her support from the government - and who thus cost the coalition its majority vote in the Knesset.

Idit Silman of Bennett's right-wing Jamina party was "coalition leader," a sort of joint faction leader.

In this function, she was quoted as saying in the Israeli media that she "spent extensively on the current coalition".

However, she could no longer assist the government in "damaging Israel's Jewish character."

Silman called on her colleagues to also "come home" and form a right-wing government.

Kick-off at the Minister of Health

Questions concerning the Jewish character of the state are usually hotly contested in Israel.

Still, the political establishment on Wednesday was surprised by Silman's withdrawal - even Bennett didn't know about it in advance - and by the reasons the 41-year-old politician gave for it: It was about the consumption of leavened food (chametz) in hospitals during the Jewish Passover -fest.

A dispute between Silman and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz of the secular Meretz party has been smoldering for days.

Horowitz argued that a Supreme Court ruling allowing people to bring leavened food to relatives in the hospital should be implemented.

According to Jewish religious law, no chametz may be eaten during the week of Passover,

As early as March last year, the country's Sephardic chief rabbi, Yitzhak Josef, tried to prevent the verdict from being implemented.

Now Silman, an orthodox Jew, took great offense at Horowitz's attitude.

"We cannot allow a man like that to continue serving as a minister with our votes," she said, according to media reports in the Knesset Health Committee.

On Monday, she presented Bennett with an ultimatum on the matter.

When the prime minister didn't respond, she made her decision.

It is uncertain whether the coalition is now only faltering or will soon fall.

To replace Bennett, the opposition would have to unite 61 of the 120 Knesset MPs behind their own candidate – which, as things stand, would require more defectors.

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now the head of the opposition, sensed the dawn.

In a video shared on Twitter, he congratulated Silman on her move "on behalf of masses of the Jewish people who have longed for this moment."

"Welcome you home to the national camp," the Likud leader wrote, calling on other politicians to do the same.

The Israeli media is already rumored to have promised Silman a good place on the Likud list for the next election and the post of health minister.

Other right-wing politicians also rejoiced over the impending end of Bennett's "non-Zionist left-wing government," as one far-right MP called it (Bennett's Jamina party is clearly Zionist and right-wing).

Meanwhile, the coalition called for calm.

In any case, nothing will happen in the short term because the Knesset will be on hiatus for several weeks, also due to Passover.

Bennett could now try to win over opposition MPs.

That could further affect the delicate balance of the coalition.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, must agree on whether to aim for their own governing majority - or whether there will be another snap election.