As a coalition crisis looms over the stalemate in the Chareidi draft law, the Shas party on Thursday threatened for the first time to withdraw from the coalition in the coming days.

A message from senior party officials on the front page of the Shas newspaper Haderech on Thursday morning stated: “Immediately after Shavuos, the question of deciding on Shas’s continued path in the government and coalition will be placed on the table of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah.”

“We hope that the Prime Minister will take responsibility and address the issue with full force, exerting all his influence so that there are immediate agreements, both on the wording of the law and on the timetable for its enactment.”

Senior Shas and UTJ officials told Kikar HaShabbat on Wednesday evening that “the issue of the draft and the dissolution of the government will be decided within a few days, not weeks or even two weeks. If there are no agreements on the principles of the law, we will withdraw from the government in the coming days.”

“We will not allow Netanyahu to drag the crisis to the Knesset’s winter session, when he himself will dissolve the government and claim that he did not agree to grant us the law. The issue will be decided in the current session, and long before the end of the session—probably already in the middle of next week.”

The officials added: “There is full cooperation between Degel HaTorah and Shas. Every decision will be made jointly.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)