Haaretz’s Political Correspondent Says Netanyahu Staged the Leak of His Own Conscription Promise

Yossi Verter’s column, filed at 03:51 IDT on Monday 3 August under the headline “Netanyahu Creates Alternative Reality to Lure Back Voters,” reads the leaked quotes from a closed Netanyahu meeting — including a promise of “a comprehensive conscription law that will pass immediately” once he forms his next government — as staged to manufacture the appearance of a rift with the Haredi parties. Verter’s opening ties it to the Iran file: had Trump not called off the war, Netanyahu would not have needed the meeting. This is signed opinion by Haaretz’s chief political correspondent, not reporting on what was said; this desk could not establish when the meeting took place, who leaked it, or which outlet published the quotes first. Israelis vote for the 26th Knesset on 27 October 2026.

The polling backdrop has not moved in the last 48 hours — no survey was published in that window. Steptoe’s 29 May assessment placed the Bennett-led opposition bloc at 58 to 60 seats and Netanyahu’s coalition at 50 to 52, neither at 61. JNS in mid-July had the coalition in the low-to-mid 50s and the opposition in the mid-to-high 50s, with one exception: Channel 14, whose polls have shown the coalition crossing 60 and reaching as many as 65. Elsewhere on the opposition side, Times of Israel reported on 1 August that Naftali Bennett, in an interview, called Qatar a more dangerous enemy than Iran and again vowed to declare Doha an enemy state — three days before Trump credited Qatari mediation with stopping the strike on Iran.

Assessment: Two things to watch. A partisan broadcaster’s polling running 10 to 13 seats from the field is not noise; it is a parallel electoral reality that will be cited as evidence of momentum regardless of what Midgam or Camil Fuchs publish next. And Bennett’s Qatar position, formed when Doha was a Hamas financier in Israeli political shorthand, now has to survive Doha’s role as the channel that produced a Hormuz offer Washington accepted. Verter’s thesis is unfalsifiable by design — a staged leak and a real rift look identical from outside the room — which is why it should be read as evidence of how Netanyahu’s critics are pricing him, not as reporting.