Eli Yishai, one of the three heads of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Shas party said Monday that he has had asked the national religious rabbis not to enter into an agreement with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid over the push to make national service compulsory for all.
Lapid, whose party won a massive 19 seats in last month's Knesset elections, made the concept of "sharing the burden" a cornerstone of his party platform, giving him broad appeal to many secular and middle-class Israelis.
"I appealed to the rabbis and I told them to do everything in their power sop as not to make a decision on the issue of the world of the Torah that goes against our stance and without our consent," Yishai told Army Radio.
Yishai, who holds the post of interior minister in the outgoing government, added that his party was willing to remain outside the next coalition.
"They [the national religious parties] are allowed to enter the coalition even without Shas," he said. "I haven't asked any individual or any party to rescue Shas. I am ready to support the coalition from outside."
The issue of drafting the ultra-Orthodox into the Israel Defense Forces or another form of national service has long been resisted by the Haredi communities inside Israel. Most ultra-Orthodox men are exempt from service as long as they are studying Torah full-time.