United Torah Judaism chairman MK Yitzchak Goldknopf launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the right-wing coalition in an interview in Hebrew with Kikar HaShabbat, accusing the Prime Minister of abandoning the Chareidi public, breaking his promises, and allowing unprecedented sanctions and arrests against yeshiva students. Goldknopf also declared that any future coalition must pass a draft law protecting Torah learners without quotas or sanctions.

Speaking against the backdrop of High Court rulings, the arrests of yeshiva students, and the ongoing battle over the military draft, Goldknopf said the Chareidi parties made serious strategic mistakes and accused Netanyahu of failing to honor commitments made to the Chareidi parties.

He also sharply criticized police conduct during demonstrations and the treatment of detainees held in military prisons, declaring that, as far as he is concerned, the so-called right-wing bloc no longer exists. He insisted that his support for any future government would depend on legislation fully protecting the status of Torah learners without enlistment targets or penalties.

Addressing the High Court’s decision to freeze the arrests law, Goldknopf said, “I think everyone knew there would be petitions against this issue, especially since the legal experts told us this law was hanging by a thread. But as long as there was something more that could be done regarding these arrests, I joined that effort and supported it.”

Asked about criticism within Agudas Yisroel that Shas chairman Aryeh Deri knew in advance the law would ultimately be struck down, Goldknopf replied, “We did it because we couldn’t avoid asking them to do it, but did it bring ahavas chinam or sinas chinam? I don’t think it brought so much ahavas chinam.”

Reflecting on the current crisis facing the Chareidi community, including sanctions that did not exist since the establishment of the state and the arrest of Torah learners, Goldknopf said, “How did we get here? Because we didn’t know how to say what Ben Gvir said and did. If Netanyahu had heard from us that we were leaving—and everyone would have left—believe me, there would have been a draft law exactly as we wanted, without sanctions.”

He continued his criticism of the coalition’s conduct, saying, “As long as Netanyahu knew we were only talking and didn’t really intend to carry it out, he rode on us, and he rode on us very well, and he had a good government. He stood in America next to Trump—how? Because we gave him 64. Who were the seven MKs who supported him? United Torah Judaism. If we had been stronger, we would have passed the draft law and not a hair on the head of a yeshiva student would have been harmed.”

Asked directly whether Netanyahu bears responsibility for the current situation, Goldknopf answered, “What kind of question is that? Is there any doubt? Have you ever seen something Netanyahu wanted that he didn’t accomplish? He knows how to lead and how to achieve results. If they had wanted to—and decided that the draft law came before everything else—and he said that—they could have passed it before the government was formed and before the state budget. They dragged it out, threw sand in our eyes, and made promises to us.”

Speaking about his visits to military prisons, Goldknopf expressed outrage over the detention of yeshiva students.

“I meet detainees there for nothing. I ask them, ‘Who did you murder?’ ‘Who did you steal from?’ ‘Money laundering?’ ‘Why are you sitting in prison?’ And they answer because ‘they sat and learned Torah.’ So what? Because of that you arrest a person? There is no law to arrest them. Why arrest them? Straight to prison? What is this, a chicken? How do you put a person in prison? What’s going on here? Is this atonement?”

Goldknopf also condemned what he described as excessive police force during Chareidi demonstrations.

“They decided somewhere that the blood of the Chareidi public is ownerless. When you see a police officer or Border Police officer grabbing his brother and stripping off his clothes—where in the world has anyone heard of such a thing? How can anyone even imagine that a person could do that? And for what? He demonstrated. Couldn’t cars and ambulances pass in Kaplan too?”

Asked whether he still considers himself part of the right-wing bloc, Goldknopf dismissed the idea outright.

“‘Bloc’? What bloc? How can there be a bloc? A bloc exists when people trust one another. When one betrays another, is that called a bloc? Netanyahu only betrayed us? Didn’t he also hurt us? What am I supposed to tell the thousands of yeshiva students who never received the money they were promised?”

Looking ahead to the next government, Goldknopf said his condition for joining any coalition would be clear.

“The status of Torah learners must be regulated so they are lawful citizens in the State of Israel like everyone else. We will not agree to sanctions or quotas. How can you even say that word (sanctions)? If someone works at Tnuva or Strauss, are you going to impose sanctions on him? What happened here? Who invented this word?”

He concluded with another forceful attack on the sanctions imposed on Torah learners.

“After everything we’ve gone through here, every part of our body has been slaughtered and torn apart. Today we are covered in blood because you carried out such an attack against us that today a Chareidi Jew is humiliated. One is afraid to walk in the street, another can’t send his child to daycare, another can’t travel abroad, they can’t go on vacation like everyone else, they can’t get a driver’s license. What happened here? Is there another country that discriminates against so many of its own citizens?”

Goldknopf reiterated that his demand remains unchanged.

“To recognize all the citizens of Israel as respected citizens who receive all their rights. The demand is that what existed until now should continue—that anyone who learns Torah receives a one-year deferment. A law without sanctions and without quotas. What are sanctions?”