Eisenkot Claims Coalition Breakthrough as Liberman Bends on Ultra-Orthodox Draft

Israel's opposition just cracked open a door it had spent years nailing shut. Avigdor Liberman, who built a career on vowing to end the ultra-Orthodox military exemption, said Friday he's ready to compromise on the conscription law to keep Netanyahu out of power. It's a sharp reversal from a man who once called the community 'anti-Jewish' and campaigned on posters promising to crack down on 'draft-dodgers'.

Liberman didn't soften everywhere. He still refuses to sit with Israeli-Arab lawmakers — the same alliance that handed opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the most endorsements. Instead, he pitched a trade: drop the demand for ultra-Orthodox conscription, and his Yisrael Beiteinu party's seven seats come along. 'Trying to have everything risks getting nothing,' he wrote on social media, calling the national interest bigger than his own campaign promises.

The numbers are suddenly live. United Torah Judaism and Shas hold 13 seats between them — enough, per the source report, to put Eisenkot in power. UTJ declined Thursday to recommend Netanyahu to President Isaac Herzog but pointedly did not back Eisenkot either. Lawmaker Yaakov Asher called Liberman's shift 'encouraging' and said the community's rabbis would weigh any formal offer.

Eisenkot, a former military commander, says the quiet work is paying off. 'We have made significant progress and achieved breakthroughs, quietly and modestly,' he posted Friday, adding he expects Herzog to hand him the mandate. Herzog announces Sunday who gets first crack at forming a government.

The friction is real. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 14 percent of Israel's population with a far higher birth rate, and their draft exemption has fueled deep resentment as reservists cycle through repeated tours since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Liberman's own partner on the right, Naftali Bennett, ran on 'not one shekel' for religious students who skip service — and has stayed silent on the U-turn.

Israeli-Arab lawmakers, whose seat count surged on anger at Netanyahu's far-right government, remain the wild card. Only left-wing leader Yair Golan has openly backed working with them. Golan says the mood has flipped since election week: 'There is progress. There is a will.' Neither bloc won a majority on October 27, and three years of war have left Israeli society raw. Sunday's mandate call decides which side gets to try first.