Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is dangerously wavering after the explosive ultimatum launched Monday by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Religious leaders are giving the Prime Minister 48 hours to “find a solution” preserving military exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, a dispensation granted for decades but increasingly contested by Israeli society.

This existential crisis deeply divides the country with daily demonstrations requiring police intervention. The Shas party clearly threatens to vote for early elections, putting Netanyahu in an impossible situation between his own Likud party wanting to impose universal conscription and his religious allies demanding maintenance of exemptions.

Israel – Netanyahu government on the brink of explosion: 48-hour ultimatum