Chareidim demand guarantees before backing Eisenkot govt

A new formula under discussion could allow the chareidi parties to join a government led by Gadi Eisenkot, Channel 12's Yair Sharki reported Tuesday evening. Under the plan, an Eisenkot government would be sworn in with chareidi support from outside the coalition; only after a draft-exemption law is passed would United Torah Judaism, and possibly Shas, formally join the government.

The central difficulty in the talks stems from the chareidi parties' demand to pass a draft-exemption law as a condition for joining the government. But advancing the law in the form they want requires a functioning government first.

According to the report, the law the chareidim are seeking to advance is designed to withstand a High Court challenge, meaning it would have to be a government bill submitted through the Defense Ministry. That means it cannot be advanced on the planned track before the government is sworn in.

The solution now under discussion is a two-stage formula: first, an Eisenkot government would be sworn in with chareidi support from outside, alongside a commitment to advance a government draft bill. In the second stage, after the law is approved by the Knesset, the chareidi parties would join the government.

But the move carries significant political risk for the chareidim. They could enable the formation of the government, only to discover later that the draft law promised to them is not advancing or is not approved in the version they want.

For that reason, according to the report, the chareidi parties are seeking guarantees in advance, including a position from the legal adviser on the law they wish to advance.

Another detail that emerged concerns the role of Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman. According to the report, the chareidi parties know Lieberman and his political conduct, unlike Yesh chairman Gadi Eisenkot, with whom they have no comparable experience.

Against that backdrop, Lieberman's appointment as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, through which the draft law is expected to pass, takes on added significance. According to the report, the chareidi parties place trust in Lieberman's commitments.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues to work to prevent the chareidim from joining an Eisenkot government. Last night a long late-night meeting was held at the Prime Minister's Office between Netanyahu and United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Asher.

According to the Channel 12 report, by this morning Likud officials were already assessing that they had succeeded in blocking the move. That followed days in which the party believed the chareidim joining an Eisenkot government was nearly sealed.

Likud believes it has succeeded in persuading the chareidi parties not to give up their main bargaining chip, support for forming the government, before they receive something concrete in return.

Alongside the difficulties in talks with the chareidim, the option of forming a government with support from the Arab parties from outside is also running into obstacles. Sources in the change bloc are criticizing Lieberman, claiming he is "killing off every day" the possibility of forming such a government.

Thus, the two main options facing Eisenkot remain without a breakthrough at this stage: a government with support from the Arab parties from outside, or a government with the chareidi parties, which would require advance understandings on the draft issue.