Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly urged the ultra-Orthodox parties not to force early elections in September, warning in private conversations that such a timeline would \u201cendanger\u201d the right-wing bloc\u2019s chances of winning.<\/p>\n
Ultra-Orthodox revolt<\/p>\n
The decision to advance the bill came after the seven-strong United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party announced<\/a> last month that it would seek to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, citing the coalition\u2019s failure to pass a law enshrining the decades-old exemption of Haredi yeshiva students from military service.<\/p>\n UTJ made its move after Netanyahu told<\/a> Haredi MKs that the coalition currently doesn\u2019t have the votes to pass the draft exemption legislation, and reportedly asked them to agree to shelve the bill until after the elections.<\/p>\n \t The legislation \u2014 which would ostensibly increase military conscription in the Haredi community, but ultimately enable continued exemptions for full-time yeshiva students \u2014 is widely seen as legally dubious and laden with loopholes. It has generated intense resistance even among members of Netanyahu\u2019s coalition and was briefly taken off the table in March with the outbreak of the US-Israeli war with Iran.<\/p>\n In response to UTJ\u2019s move to dissolve the Knesset and in an effort to control both the legislative process and the timing of the elections, Katz submitted<\/a> his own legislation calling for new elections to be held.<\/p>\n The bill was cosponsored by lawmakers from UTJ, Shas, New Hope, Religious Zionism and the Otzma Yehudit parties. Similar bills were submitted by the opposition as well.<\/p>\n In an effort to win the Haredim over and avoid a September election date, Netanyahu placed the coalition\u2019s draft exemption bill back on the parliamentary agenda<\/a>, though his efforts were rejected by the ultra-Orthodox, with Degel HaTorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando telling lawmakers \u201cnot to get drawn into political games and to support the dissolution of the Knesset.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawmakers subsequently voted<\/a> 110-0 in favor of a preliminary reading of the government bill on May 20. However, it was not immediately advanced further, sparking speculation that the coalition had only sought to gain control of the dissolution process but was not interested in allowing it to go forward quickly.<\/p>\n This prompted opposition demands that it be immediately placed on the Knesset House Committee agenda, with Katz announcing last Wednesday that members of the committee would deliberate the bill Monday.<\/p>\n \t Government of \u2018many disasters\u2019<\/p>\n Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party\u2019s weekly faction meeting before the vote, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid welcomed the upcoming election as a chance to move on what what he described as one of the worst governments in Israeli history.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Knesset will vote today in its first reading on dissolving the Knesset and heading to elections. We are taking another step toward ending the tenure of this government\u2026Even coalition supporters will have to admit that there has never been a government with so many disasters to its name,\u201d Lapid stated \u2014 slamming Netanyahu failing to win in Lebanon, Gaza and Iran; for overseeing unprecedented increases in violent crime; and for the \u201cdecline of Israel\u2019s international status to a low point that has never been seen before in the country\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Lapid also reiterated his call for Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot to join his and former prime minister Naftali Bennett\u2019s united Together slate, insisting that \u201cwe need to unite the camp to win the elections, not waste long months now on everyone tearing each other apart.\u201d<\/p>\n Bennett, he said, \u201cis the right man to lead, and we need to unite the entire camp behind him and behind Together to win the elections. Anything else will simply lose the elections for the camp, and we can and must win.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Channel 12 news, Eisenkot recently proposed to fellow opposition leaders that they all agree to recommend the head of the largest allied party as prime minister following the upcoming election, a move which has generated pushback from within the bloc.<\/p>\n Addressing party activists on Sunday evening, The Democrats chairman Yair Golan insisted that he does \u201cnot promise that we will endorse the leader of the largest party, but rather whoever agrees to our values.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking with reporters ahead of his own Yisrael Beytenu party\u2019s faction meeting on Monday afternoon, Avigdor Liberman declined to back Bennett as prime minister, stating that he does not believe the argument that the opposition will lose unless it unites behind the former premier.<\/p>\n Addressing Eisenkot\u2019s proposal, Liberman \u2014 who has presented himself as the best candidate for prime minister \u2014 stated that any decision will be postponed until after the elections.<\/p>\n Legislative implications<\/p>\n While the Knesset will be able to continue passing laws even after it dissolves until the next parliament is formed, early elections are likely to complicate the coalition\u2019s legislative efforts.<\/p>\n After voting to dissolve the Knesset, lawmakers were set to hold the first readings of a pair of controversial bills that would curtail the power of the attorney general and make it harder to indict high-ranking government officials.<\/p>\n However, if the bills advance through their first readings without being passing it into a law, the coalition will be able to vote in the next Knesset to apply \u201ccontinuity\u201d if it wins the election, allowing lawmakers to resume legislative work without starting from scratch.<\/p>\n In addition to shortening the time available to the coalition to pass its legislative agenda, according to the Israel Democracy Institute,\u00a0\u201cafter the dissolution of the Knesset it is customary for the committees to convene only with the approval of the Arrangements Committee (a committee established during an election recess, whose members include the chairperson of the coalition and a member of the faction of the leader of the opposition).\u201d<\/p>\n As such, the coalition is currently speeding ahead<\/a> with a series of controversial moves targeting the media, including legislation that would place the Kan public broadcaster\u2019s budget under government control and overhaul broadcast media.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tDegel HaTorah chair Moshe Gafni (R) and United Torah Judaism party chair Yitzhak Goldknopf attend a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 14, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/F260329YS759-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and coalition whip Ofir Katz seen in the Knesset, March 29, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/F260601YS330-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tOpposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 1, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
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