A major coalition crisis is looming over the government as the Chareidi parties have threatened to bolt the coalition in less than two weeks if the stalemate on advancing a Chareidi draft law continues after Shavuos.

The office of UTJ chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf denied a Channel 12 report earlier in the day that stated that the Gerrer Rebbe had already decided that Goldknopf would resign from the coalition “even on the day after Shavuos” over the stalemate of the draft law.

The statement said that “the Channel 12 report is not correct.” The statement added, “In recent days, the son of the Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Nechemiah Alter, met with the leadership of the Degel HaTorah party, HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau and HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, and it was agreed that if there is no progress in regulating the status of bnei yeshivos, a meeting will be held with party representatives to determine the next steps, either withdrawing from the coalition or promoting a bill to dissolve the Knesset.”

Also on Wednesday evening, Chareidi media outlets reported that a surprising meeting took place between HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and the Belzer Rebbe’s son, HaRav Aharon Mordechai Rokeach, in Bnei Brak.

At the beginning of the meeting, HaRav Rokeach invited the Rosh Yeshivah to his daughter’s wedding, which will take place about two weeks after Shavuos in Jerusalem. Afterwards, the attendants were asked to leave the room, and the Rosh Yeshivah and HaRav Rokeach talked privately for an extended period about the draft law crisis and the various paths towards a resolution.

According to sources familiar with the meeting, the two agreed that withdrawing from the coalition would only be carried out as a last resort.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)