Israel’s government reached a compromise on Tuesday to avoid an early election, overcoming a Cabinet crisis over a controversial bill to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from compulsory military service. Polls indicate Netanyahu’s Likud party would come out top in an early election. Haaretz reported that Netanyahu did not have enough votes in the Knesset to bring down the government and trigger an early election. In September, Israel’s top court ruled that a law exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service is unconstitutional and gave the government one year to address the issue. Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 10 percent of Israel’s population.

Source: Egypt Independent March 13, 2018 22:30 UTC