Avigdor Lieberman, the chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu, said Sunday his party will not sit in any future coalition alongside Shas, drawing a hard line just as former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot signaled a more conciliatory approach toward the ultra-Orthodox party in a separate interview.
"I want to be very clear about Gadi as well," Lieberman said at the opening of his party's faction meeting. "There is no possibility whatsoever that Yisrael Beiteinu will sit in the same coalition as Shas. Whoever is counting on a coalition with Shas should not count on Yisrael Beiteinu."
Lieberman's remarks came in direct response to comments Eisenkot, who leads the Yesh! party, made in an interview published by the Israeli outlet Kikar HaShabbat. In that interview, Eisenkot said he views Shas as a party with broad Zionist elements and would be open to including it in a coalition, provided it commits to what he described as three foundational principles, first among them a universal draft law. "A large portion of Shas voters serve in the military. I saw them as chief of staff," Eisenkot said, adding that he was speaking "as the son of a mother who voted Shas for 30 years." Eisenkot also praised former Shas leader Aryeh Deri's contributions over two decades in the security cabinet, despite what he called significant disagreements between them at times.
Eisenkot laid out his own proposed framework for a draft law, under which 3 percent of eligible Israelis would receive an exemption from military service, with the rest required to serve either in the Israel Defense Forces or in national civilian service.
Lieberman rejected any framework that would preserve exemptions for segments of the ultra-Orthodox community. "Whoever talks about an exemption for part of the Haredim is essentially saying that what was will be what continues to be," he said. "That is why we want to be as clear as possible. We want a Zionist, state-oriented coalition. The current coalition is anti-state, anti-Zionist, and anti-Jewish."
He said a universal draft law, with no exemptions carved out for any portion of the population, would be the first demand his party makes of any future coalition, and one without which Yisrael Beiteinu would not join. "Let no one have illusions that hocus pocus can be done here," Lieberman said. "The first law we will demand, and without which we will not be part of the coalition, is a draft law for everyone. Not an exemption for 3.5 percent, not for 400, not for four, not for a quarter of a person. A draft law for everyone. Period."
There is a widening rift among Israel's opposition figures over how to approach Haredi political parties ahead of the next election, with Eisenkot signaling openness to a conditional partnership and Lieberman ruling out any coalition involving Shas altogether.
