Demands of Netanyahu’s ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist allies include changing secular liberal school education, increasing the budget for religious schools, and exempting Yeshiva students from military service.
Author
Khinvraj Jangid, Associate Professor & Director of Jindal Center for Israel Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
Benjamin Netanyahu is back as the Prime Minister of Israel and now heads the country’s most far-right, religiously conservative government in history. Legislative elections were held in Israel on November 1, 2022 — the fifth general election in less than four years. The election ended predictably in Mr. Netanyahu’s favour, but it took him a long time to stitch an alliance.
This is because the demands of his ultra-religious and ultra-nationalist allies are radical. They include changing secular liberal school education, increasing the budget for religious schools, and exempting Yeshiva students from military service. Other religious groups, though not orthodox, demand more settlements in the West Bank and laws that can bypass the judicial review system of the Supreme Court.
Given the worry over such demands, Mr. Netanyahu clarified that Israel will not become a halachic state, will not ban LGBTQ parades, and will remain “a country of laws”.
Published in: The Hindu
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