Governance & Electoral System
A government without the Haredim
The next government should be formed without the Haredi parties, even if a majority is then harder to reach.
On 5 August 2026 Yoaz Hendel made a government without the Haredi and Arab parties his condition for joining one. Polls give the Haredi parties about 16 seats.
What is at stake
Shas and United Torah Judaism have sat in almost every government since 1977, and polls give them about 16 seats. Yisrael Beiteinu and The Reservists and the Economic Party make excluding them a condition of joining a government.
The case for
- While the Haredi parties hold the balance, no conscription law passes. That arithmetic has brought down three governments.
- A government that does not depend on them can set yeshiva budgets on criteria rather than under threat of collapse.
- The army is 12,000 to 15,000 soldiers short. A coalition that must protect its Haredi partners cannot close that gap.
The case against
- About one Jewish Israeli in eight is Haredi. Ruling them out on principle means governing against a growing share of the country.
- The arithmetic without them is fragile: both blocs top out around 56 to 58 seats in the August 2026 polls.
- A conscription deal negotiated with the Haredi parties holds. One imposed without them is undone at the next election.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
Nothing in law requires or forbids it. This is a bargaining decision, taken in the weeks after 27 October by whoever the president hands the mandate to.