Bezalel Smotrich faces political fallout over military draft exemptions

Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, has long built his career on expansionist settlement policies and a hardline nationalist agenda. Yet, his recent legislative support for ultra-Orthodox draft exemption has sparked a backlash among his traditional supporters. Many of these voters, who serve in the reserves, view the exemption as a betrayal during a time of intense conflict. Critics like lawyer Shvut Raanan argue that his political survival has come at the expense of the values he once championed, claiming he prioritized coalition stability over the equitable burden of national service.

This friction is a microcosm of the wider struggle within Netanyahu’s government. While Smotrich maintains that mass arrests of ultra-Orthodox men would only incite domestic chaos, his rhetoric has failed to appease those demanding accountability. With polls suggesting his party currently struggles to meet the 3.5% threshold for parliamentary representation, his political future is increasingly tied to the Prime Minister’s ability to engineer strategic mergers on the far right. As the election approaches, Smotrich must balance the pragmatic needs of coalition management against a base that increasingly views his compromises as a abandonment of their core principles.