Opposition accuses Netanyahu of hypocrisy amid pivot against ultra-Orthodox parties in bid for center-right voters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be pivoting his election campaign significantly, with several recent moves suggesting that the Likud party chairman is seeking to win back center-right voters alienated by efforts to pass legislation allowing ultra-Orthodox men to continue evading military service.

It remains unclear whether this latest push can succeed, as polls show a significant portion of these voters have turned to Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party or Naftali Bennett’s Together party, while a multitude of new parties are also set to compete for the same voters.

“Anyone who is not studying Torah will either enlist – or go to prison,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying in closed discussions, according to Channel 12 News on Sunday.

This was Netanyahu's strongest statement on the issue in recent months, following repeated efforts to advance highly controversial legislation under pressure from the ultra-Orthodox parties – a campaign that also cost him the support of several members of his own coalition.

The statement came during a discussion of the controversial "draft evasion law," which has been frozen by Israel's High Court. Netanyahu reportedly acknowledged that the legislation had failed. “The temporary arrests law was intended to lower the flames and increase the number of recruits from the ultra-Orthodox community. In practice, it did not succeed, and therefore there will be no such law in the next government,” he said, Channel 12 reported.

“After the elections, we will establish a broad national government that will immediately pass a full conscription law that meets the IDF's needs.”

🔴Opposition Bloc: 57 (-1)
🔵Netanyahu Bloc: 52
🟢Hadash-Ta'al & Ra'am: 11 (+1) https://t.co/CJ2wm8zNDn

— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) August 2, 2026

Opposition politicians and ultra-Orthodox leaders criticized Netanyahu's remarks, accusing him of political opportunism and arguing that he spent months advancing draft exemption legislation only to reverse course ahead of the elections.

United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf said the report “only confirms what was clear to us from the very beginning – the prime minister never intended to regulate the status of yeshiva students and was not planning to bring forward a conscription law.”

“The arrests law was yet another spin that was never intended to solve anything, and it is a shame it ever came into being. After the elections, we will join only with whoever regulates the status of yeshiva students and kollel scholars,” Goldknopf vowed.

Another senior party figure accused Netanyahu of stringing them along for four years while failing “to fulfill his commitment to pass the conscription law, the apple of the ultra-Orthodox public's eye, and instead preferred to divide the nation around the judicial overhaul,” in comments to Ynet News.

Where Do 2022 Netanyahu Bloc Voters Stand Today?

🔵 Still with the same party: 56%
⚪️ Undecided: 14%
🔴 Supporting an opposition party: 13%
🔵 Switched to another Netanyahu bloc party: 11%
⚫️ Won't vote: 6%

via Hamadad/Chan13

— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) August 1, 2026

However, most opposition parties have repeatedly made clear they won’t join a government with the Haredi parties.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned the public against “another pathetic spin.”

“After 4 years in which he has prevented the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox Jews with his own body, ignoring the Chief of Staff's warnings and the cries of the reservists who demand reinforcements – Netanyahu thinks that this time the people of Israel will believe him… He also knows he won't succeed in enlisting even a single ultra-Orthodox Jew, because he simply can't, and mainly because Deri, who boasts about his deserter grandchildren, doesn't allow him to,” Bennett argued.

Former IDF Chief Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of trying to legislate the “evasion law” out of fear for his post: “The public will not buy the new spin that stems from fear of the polls… With your own hands you strengthened the [draft] evaders and deserters at the expense of those who serve. You had so many opportunities to rise to the occasion – to be a leader.”

Knesset Seat Poll w. B&W-Shaked-Edelstein merger

🔴Yashar: 22 (-1)
🔵Likud: 22
🔴Together: 15
🔴Yisrael Beteinu: 10
🔴Democrats: 9
🔵UTJ: 8
🔵Otzma: 8 (+1)
🔵Shas: 7
🟢Hadash-Ta'al: 5
🟢Ra'am: 5
🔵RZP: 5
🟣B&W-Edelstein-Shaked: 4 (+4)
🔴Zionist Home (Reservists): 0 (-4)

+/-…

— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) August 2, 2026

Another notable response came from former Likud minister and lawmaker Gilad Erdan, who is reportedly preparing to launch a new party. Erdan is expected to compete for the crowded center-right vote alongside Likud, Benny Gantz's Blue and White party – while reportedly continuing merger talks with Gantz – as well as the new Tropper-Hendel party and other political rivals.

Confirming his intention to run, Erdan wrote on 𝕏, “People no longer buy promises about 'conscription'; people no longer buy promises about 'unity.' We will not sit in a narrow government, with anyone.”

According to Ynet News, Erdan is expected to formally announce his new party in the coming days, while reportedly still negotiating about potential mergers and partnerships with Gantz, as well as Likud breakaway Yuli Edelstein, former minister Ayelet Shaked, and even recent Olympic medalist Oren Smadja.

Meanwhile, the new party of Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel, which is now called “Zionist Home – The Reservists,” has crossed the electoral threshold in the first polls recently.

These developments appear to have reinforced Netanyahu's efforts to appeal to center-right voters, a constituency that has traditionally supported Likud but is now being courted by several competing parties.

According to several pollsters and political analysts, this voter segment – shaped in part by the events of Oct. 7 – strongly favors a broad coalition comprising Zionist parties, excluding the Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties, and supports legislation establishing a tougher IDF draft law.

A first, cautious step in this direction came last month, when Netanyahu called for a “broad, national government.” Now, in the leaked remarks, he reinforced this goal while distancing himself from the Haredi parties and emphasizing the need for military conscription.

In addition, Ynet reported that Netanyahu has opened an account on the social network LinkedIn, which is widely used among young people in Israel's high-tech sector, many of whom have served hundreds of days in reserve duty in recent years and represent a significant part of the projected center-right voting base.

In a first post, Netanyahu touted his successful “diplomatic visit to Washington” and vowed to act “with determination, responsibility, and strength to ensure Israel's security and the future of the next generations. Together we will continue to achieve victory, expand peace, and lead Israel toward a secure and prosperous future.”

According to the outlet, the Likud party has developed a series of additional measures aimed at appealing to the same voter base.