JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas Party announced the resignation of its ministers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Wednesday, escalating tensions over the compulsory military draft for Haredi Jews.

However, the party, which has 11 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, said that it will remain in the ruling coalition.

The decision followed a meeting of the party’s Council of Torah Sages, which voted unanimously to step down from ministerial roles in protest of government inaction regarding the military service exemption granted to Haredi.

Despite the resignations, Shas said it would not immediately quit the coalition, which could lead to the collapse of Netanyahu’s narrow parliamentary majority.

Pressure from Netanyahu’s office influenced the party to delay a full withdrawal, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Shas controls key ministries, including the interior, labor, welfare, and religious services portfolios, and has representation in other roles such as deputy agriculture minister.

Religious Services Minister Michael Malchieli said the resignations were a response to what he called “persecution of Torah scholars.”

“At the moment, participation in the government is not possible,” he said, but added that Shas would “not cooperate with the left.”

This comes amid mounting unrest within Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.

On Tuesday, the Agudat Yisrael Party, along with its partner Degel HaTorah – forming the United Torah Judaism alliance – also withdrew from the government over the same issue. Their departure left the coalition with just 61 seats in the Knesset, the minimum needed to maintain power.

Should Shas’s 11 lawmakers follow suit, the coalition would lose its majority.

The draft exemption crisis escalated after a June 25 ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court that invalidated the decades-long deferral for Haredi and halted state funding to religious schools that refuse to send students to military service.

The Haredi, making up roughly 13% of Israel’s population, argue that Torah study is their national service and that integration into secular institutions threatens their religious identity.

For years, many dodged conscription by claiming yeshiva study, often until reaching the exemption age of 26.