Netanyahu on the Brink: From Haredi Crisis to Losing Trump's Support

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing one of the most complex crises of his political career. A number of major issues are intertwined, ranging from the military conscription crisis for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) community, negotiations regarding the dissolution of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), efforts to control the Likud Party’s candidate list, to a constitutional dispute over the appointment of attorney Michael Rabello as State Comptroller. The crisis is not solely domestic. At the same time, US President Donald Trump has signalled that his support for Netanyahu is no longer unconditional. He is reportedly even beginning to consider alternative figures such as Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot. Meanwhile, the dispute over the State Comptroller position has evolved from a mere procedural disagreement over a secret ballot into a test of the relationship between the Knesset and the Supreme Court. Channel 12 political commentator Amit Segal, cited by Aljazeera on Monday, revealed that Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana rejected the Supreme Court’s proposal to repeat the vote. In a post on platform X, Ohana asserted, ‘The Knesset has delivered its decision,’ stating that there would be no repeat vote. A report by Anna Barsky and Gilad Morag in the Maariv newspaper noted that the Supreme Court had issued a conditional order requiring the Knesset to provide legal reasons why Rabello’s appointment should not be annulled.