For two years, Israelis were told that the ultra-Orthodox military draft was the defining moral issue facing the country. It overshadowed Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, judicial reform, Jewish sovereignty and the question of whether Israel would return to the failed security policies of October 6.

Right-wing voters were urged to punish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the Haredi draft crisis—even if doing so empowered Gadi Eisenkot and political parties supporting military withdrawals, international guarantees and renewed economic concessions to Gaza.