On Jan. 18, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a late-night phone call to the home of 93-year-old Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in Bnei Brak. What Netanyahu wanted was for Kanievsky to make sure all ultra-Orthodox schools shut down and remain closed even if the nationwide closure is prolonged. It was his second call to the rabbi’s home in less than 10 days.

Kanievsky is considered one of the top leaders of the ultra-Orthodox public, but until recently, he had been a relatively anonymous figure to the general, secular Israeli public. Only in the past year did Kanievsky become familiar to all Israelis, and not in a positive way. This rabbi is the one who instructed Heredi boys schools to open religious primary schools during the lockdowns despite government orders to the contrary. To many Israelis, the defiance of the Lithuanian leader in the ultra-Orthodox stream expressed the great power wielded by the ultra-Orthodox over the prime minister of Israel.

Netanyahu’s political alliance with the ultra-Orthodox over the years protected him from electoral defeat. But as the prime minister’s legal issues get riskier by the day, he has become more vulnerable. In fact, it seems that Netanyahu’s phone call to Kanievsky did him more harm than good.

Israel’s morbidity rates continued to run rampant despite the successful vaccination campaign. Thus, at midnight on Jan. 8, the country went into closure, which is expected to last at least until Jan. 31. All commerce is closed and the educational system is shut down. Still, as aforementioned and contrary to government instructions, quite a few ultra-Orthodox schools continue to operate. This explains why the infection rates are much higher among the ultra-Orthodox versus the rest of the population. Evidently, much anger is being accumulated in the public over ultra-Orthodox disobedience, with some of the anger directed at Netanyahu.