Shas ministers and MKs weigh support for new elections as pressure mounts over conscription bill; Netanyahu set to meet Edelstein in last-ditch bid to avert coalition collapse.
Ministers and Knesset members from the haredi Shas party met on Wednesday outside the Knesset building to discuss the party’s stance on the future of the government amid the crisis surrounding the conscription bill.
Party chairman Ariye Deri initiated the meeting. Political sources reported that at the end of the meeting, a decision is expected to be passed that matches the stance of the Lithuanian (non-Hassidic) haredi leadership to support the dissolution of the current Knesset and new elections, which will be voted on next week.
Later in the evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with the Chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, in a last-ditch attempt to lighten the sanctions that he wants to pass against those who do not enlist and prevent the fall of the government.
Members of the coalition accused Edelstein of eliminating chances of reaching an agreement with the haredi parties after he made demands that participants in the negotiations called “draconian.”
