re: #122 Archangelus

Natan Sharansky formed a party because the Russian Jews weren’t getting taken seriously by Likud.

Likud has veered to the hard right because of their need to get a coalition and cozied up to the religious parties to maintain a coalition.

Israelis want the orthodox to participate in the military/public service and eliminate the exemptions for public service.

That, more than anything else, is why elections were called in the first place, and why Bibi couldn’t form a new government and now needs to have new elections.

The origin of the exemption goes back to the foundation of the Jewish state, and the religious parties have protected that exemption zealously despite a majority of Israelis wanting to see everyone serve.