Not Herzog and not Trump: The surprising matchmakers who may connect Netanyahu and Eisenkot

Haredi sources are considering pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot to advance a unity government, in order to regulate conscription and budgets. Senior figures on the right claim that the IDF has reduced arrests of Haredi draft dodgers so as not to harm the negotiations. United Torah Judaism fears joining without Shas.

Haredi sources are considering the possibility of pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot to advance a unity government, according to a report in Maariv. For the Haredim, such a government could regulate the issues of conscription and budgets and avoid further elections. Conversely, repeated elections would mean additional months without regulating the status of yeshiva students and amid the enforcement and arrest crisis. Meanwhile, senior figures in the right-wing bloc claim that the IDF has recently reduced the scope of arrests of Haredi draft dodgers, so as not to harm Eisenkot's efforts to form a government. United Torah Judaism fears that if they join the government without Shas, their ability to force the other partners to uphold agreements will be limited. The delay in the Haredi decision serves Netanyahu, but does not solve his difficulty in forming a majority for an alternative government.