🚨Breaking: Is Netanyahu Getting KICKED Out of the Israeli Government?

**Ben Hilton** (0:00)
It's looking more and more like Israel may be headed to elections soon. If Netanyahu can kind of deal with opposing political factions, it may be in a few months. If he can't cut a deal, though, elections may be as soon as in a few weeks. And according to polling in Israel, there is a very good chance Bibi's tenure as prime minister of Israel may be over. What's even more surprising than Bibi possibly leaving the stage of Israeli leadership is who might be rising to replace him.
Bibi is Israel's longest serving prime minister. In fact, he may be one of the longest serving democratically elected leaders in world history.
But that reign may be coming to a close. Elections in Israel typically take place every four years. Israel last had elections in 2022, so we're coming up on a full four-year term this fall. But if you remember all the turmoil surrounding the last election cycle, it's actually kind of impressive that Bibi has been able to stabilize the country and go this long without another election. But there is a reoccurring topic in Israel that continues to trigger massive unrest. And that topic may cause Netanyahu's coalition to collapse and trigger snap elections earlier than this fall. And here's why.
Bibi represents the Likud Party, basically the Israeli Republicans. Because his party did not win a majority in the last election, in order to hold power as the prime minister, he has to form and maintain a coalition. To do this, Bibi formed an alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties. And in recent months, that alliance has been strained to the breaking point because of one of the most controversial topics in Israel. And here's what that is. Israel has a mandatory military draft for men and women when they turn 18
But historically, if you were ultra-Orthodox and a full-time Torah student or scholar, you could receive an exemption. The logic was simple. Studying the Bible is supporting the nation spiritually, which is even more important than fighting physically with weapons. But that being said, to most of the Israeli public, this arrangement seems unfair. Many contend that you can still serve your country physically, while at the same time studying to support it spiritually.
For years now, there have been massive protests on both sides of this issue, and Bibi has received a lot of pressure from one side to give ultra-Orthodox full exemptions from the other side to enforce a strict draft across the board. And this has been magnified by Israel's constant state of warfare over the last three years, the desperate need for more manpower in the IDF.
Soldiers have been fighting for months on end at a time. They've missed anniversaries, they've missed their children being born, they've missed family deaths, et cetera. And there is a perception in some communities in Israel that this strain has not been shared equally. This has only magnified the grievances against the ultra-Orthodox community, especially against those who aren't serving in the IDF. In many ways, though, this perception is somewhat unfair. Many ultra-Orthodox do serve in the IDF. Others serve in Israel's emergency services, including Zakah, which is the ultra-Orthodox organization that assists on the scene of terrorist attacks. They also collect human remains after a tragedy for proper Jewish burial. They played a massive role immediately after October 7th, many of them continue to suffer mentally from the horrors that they witness after that day. Regardless, the conflict came to a head this last week when ultra-Orthodox parties began pushing to pass a bundle of bills that would benefit draft evaders, forcing Bibi to make a choice. He could either allow these bills to go through, infuriating huge swaths of the Israeli public, or he could block them, infuriating the ultra-Orthodox parties, which could cause them to leave the coalition. And they have been threatening to do so. And them leaving the coalition would force snap elections, possibly in a couple of weeks. Hence why I said it's very possible we could see elections in the near future. But when those elections happen, what kind of political dynamic are we looking at? There are three main contenders for the prime minister seat at the current moment. We have Bibi Netanyahu, we have Naftali Bennett, and Gadi Aizenkot. And honestly, it's Aizenkot right now who's making the biggest waves.
Bibi we all know pretty well at this point. He was the representative to the UN in the 1980s, then prime minister of Israel off and on since the 1990s. To date, he's Israel's longest serving prime minister, possibly one of the longest serving democratically elected leaders in world history. Naftali Bennett, you may also remember, he served as Bibi's chief of staff in the early 2000s, then in 2012, took control of the very right-wing religious party Jewish Home. And for years, he ran on a very, very conservative ticket until in 2021, when he split from the coalition with Bibi and briefly became prime minister by forging a coalition with left-leaning parties, something he promised early supporters he would never do.