Benny Gantz Urges Netanyahu, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Lieberman To Form Temporary Government

On Saturday, August 23, Benny Gantz, leader of Israel’s opposition National Unity party, invited Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair Lapid, and Avigdor Lieberman to sit around the same table to form a temporary government focused on bringing home all hostages held in Gaza.

“'Multibillion-shekel Empires and a Slave Economy': Inside Israel's ultra-Orthodox Parallel State Gift this articleShare to FacebookPrint article Article printing is available to subscribers only Print in a simple, ad-free format Subscribe Comments: SaveZen Reading Zen reading is available to subscribers only Ad-free and in a comfortable reading format Subscribe”

Haaretz

The L'Express account ties the proposal to the political context after the departure of the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox parties, saying Benjamin Netanyahu no longer has an absolute majority and depends on far-right allies hostile to any deal with Hamas and supportive of a war to the annihilation of the movement in Gaza.

Haaretz

L'Express says Gantz’s provisional government would then pass a clear law on military service including the Haredim, also called ultra-Orthodox Jews, to resolve the Haredi conscription law that the current coalition has not been able to decide.

The same article says that in June 2024 the Supreme Court ruled there was no longer a legal basis for a general exemption, and that in July the army restarted conscription by sending 54,000 draft notices.

L'Express adds that about 80,000 Haredi men aged 18 to 24 are theoretically eligible to be drafted, but only 2,940 have enlisted so far, as protests spilled into the streets after exemptions ended.

L'Express frames the draft revolt as a test of the state, describing how ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups blocked several interchanges in the center of the country on Wednesday, August 20.

It also says that earlier this month, military police arrested two brothers from a Talmudic school near Jerusalem for draft desertion, and that military justice imposed short prison sentences on them.

L'Express

In the same account, the army is avoiding mass arrests for the moment so as not to inflame the situation, but draft notices continue to arrive and each new delay rekindles anger.

Naomi Abraham, an Israeli lawyer and economist who grew up in the ultra-Orthodox Haredi environment before leaving it, told jريدة القدس that the religious establishment has created a system characterized by cruelty and discrimination aimed at keeping vulnerable groups, especially Eastern women, in perpetual dependence on the elite.

Abraham described the Haredi structure as a 'parallel state' with its own education, housing, media, and judicial sectors, away from the oversight of the Israeli state, and said the liberal and secular currents are unaware of what goes on behind the walls of this system.

jريدة القدس portrays Abraham’s central claim as a system where Haredi leaders are not as concerned with theology as they are with controlling real estate and financial institutions, and it says the key to understanding this society lies in 'reading the balance sheets' rather than in declared religious discourse.

“Israeli lawyer and economist, Naomi Abraham, painted a grim picture of the internal structure of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, asserting that what appears publicly is merely an outer shell concealing a tightly controlled economic and social system of influence”

Al-Jarida al-Quds

Haaretz adds Abraham’s characterization of the ultra-Orthodox parallel state, quoting her assertion that "The wheeler-dealer oligarchy isn't dealing in theology. It's dealing in real estate, land registration and shadow banking," while also quoting her line that "Just look at the balance sheets".

In that same Haaretz framing, Abraham argues that the Lithuanian Haredi establishment built a racist and cruel system designed to ensure that a woman like her would remain invisible, poor and dependent on them.

L'Express connects the political stakes to the conscription fight, saying the Haredi mobilization has a simple objective: push the government back on the conscription, as the army restarts conscription after the Supreme Court ruling.

With Netanyahu’s coalition described as dependent on far-right allies hostile to any deal with Hamas, the L'Express account positions the hostages-focused temporary government idea alongside the unresolved Haredi conscription law as the immediate pressure point for Israel’s governing options.