Shas co-leader Eli Yishai lashed out at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as tensions ran high over the formation of the next government.
"My sense is that the prime minister prefers Yesh Atid to us," Yishai told Army Radio. "[Yair] Lapid himself simply doesn’t want to sit [in the coalition] with us, and nothing will convince him otherwise."
Lapid, whose Yesh Atid party won an unexpected 19 seats in last month's Knesset elections, is sticking to his pre-election platform on all Israelis contributing to national service. The ultra-Orthodox parties, including Shas, are reticent about drafting Israeli haredi men out of the yeshivas and into a uniform.