Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers are signaling a possible return to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, two months after staging what they called a “half-resignation” in protest of changes to a military draft bill for yeshiva students.
On Sunday, MK Uri Maklev, who resigned as deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Transportation Ministry, attended a Rosh Hashanah toast at the Transportation Ministry. “We hope that next year we will be together, I hope it will be soon,” he told staff, hinting the exit may not be final.
Former welfare minister Yaakov Margi was also invited back by ministry employees to deliver remarks at their holiday gathering. In another case, Yoav Ben-Tzur, who resigned as labor minister, joined Israel Electric Corporation CEO Meir Spiegler at a ceremony granting diplomas to dozens of ultra-Orthodox women engineers trained through a ministry-backed program.
Despite the resignations, many aides, advisers and spokespersons brought in by the Haredi ministers never left their posts. Party officials now say a full government return could come after the Sukkot holiday, citing progress on the draft law and a political calculation that being in the coalition ahead of elections better safeguards Haredi interests.
Reports on Haredi radio Monday said Shimi Bloy, former chief of staff to ex-minister Meir Porush, was quietly re-added last week to the government’s internal messaging group for ministers, after having been removed when his boss stepped down.
Netanyahu himself has pressed for their return. At a Cabinet meeting earlier this month, as the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee took up new discussions on the draft law under Likud lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, the prime minister said: “The Haredim must come back to the government, and soon we will need to pass a draft law.” He emphasized that ministries temporarily reassigned to acting ministers would be restored.
The crisis began when then-committee chair Yuli Edelstein rewrote a draft of the conscription bill, discarding promises made to Haredi leaders on the eve of Israel’s confrontation with Iran. Edelstein signaled further changes were coming, prompting the walkout. Netanyahu quickly replaced him with Bismuth, who ultra-Orthodox lawmakers believe will push through a version of the bill effectively exempting thousands of yeshiva students from military service.