{"id":809967,"date":"2026-05-20T13:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/809967\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T13:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:54:27","slug":"coalitions-bill-to-dissolve-knesset-passes-preliminary-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/809967\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition’s bill to dissolve Knesset passes preliminary reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

The coalition\u2019s bill to dissolve the Knesset<\/a> passed its preliminary reading on Wednesday in the Knesset plenum, amid the crisis in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties over the haredi draft bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Knesset dissolution bill passed with a large majority of 110 lawmakers in favor, with none against. It was submitted last week by coalition whip Ofir Katz and had the backing of coalition factions. Netanyahu did not arrive at the Knesset to attend the vote.<\/p>\n

Passage of the bill begins the process to move the election date forward slightly from October 27.<\/p>\n

The coalition\u2019s bill will now be brought to the Knesset\u2019s House Committee for debate and will need to pass a total of three readings to come into effect.<\/p>\n

\"DeputyDeputy Foreign Minister and MK Sharren Haskel arrives at the Knesset plenum for a dissolution vote in Border Police uniform, May 20, 2026 (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)<\/p>\n

The bill proposes to determine the election date in debates held in the committee.<\/p>\n

The opposition has still brought forward separate Knesset dissolution bills of its own, which continued to be brought to a vote after the coalition’s version passed.<\/p>\n

The coalition’s dissolution bill passing, rather than the opposition’s, grants the government greater control over the process of dissolving the Knesset and determining the election date.<\/p>\n

Opposition coordinator MK Meirav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid) penned a letter to Katz, demanding that he convene the House Committee already on Wednesday to advance the dissolution of the Knesset \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz said at the opening of the dissolution vote that the \u00a0“coalition has served its full term.”<\/p>\n

Even if elections are moved forward from the current scheduled date of October 27, they cannot take place in August because at least 90 days must pass after a Knesset dissolution bill is approved before elections can be held.<\/p>\n

This means the election date could be moved up to either September or mid-October.<\/p>\n

Controversial haredi draft bill returned for debate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opposition party leaders and lawmakers celebrated the dissolution bill passing its preliminary reading.<\/p>\n

The Democrats party said that it was “the beginning of the end of the worst government in Israel\u2019s history.”<\/p>\n

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, a leading rival candidate in the upcoming elections against Netanyahu, said that the “era of draft evasion is over.”<\/p>\n

He announced that he would be coming to the Knesset to stop the outgoing government from passing the \u201cdraft evasion law.”<\/p>\n

Bennett added that “a great correction was on the way.”<\/p>\n

Ahead of the vote, the controversial haredi draft bill returned for debate in the Knesset\u2019s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee early Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

Pushing to move forward with the draft bill, after progress on it was halted, was seen as Netanyahu’s final effort to persuade the haredi parties not to vote in favor of dissolving the Knesset.<\/p>\n

Despite plans to resume advancement of the draft bill, Degel Hatorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando<\/a> and MK Moshe Gafni met on Sunday evening and stated that their position in favor of dissolving the Knesset remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

Lando\u2019s spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that his stance to dissolve the Knesset was the same.<\/p>\n

The coalition tensions began on Tuesday last week after Netanyahu told the haredi parties that the draft legislation did not currently have enough support within the coalition to pass. This led the parties to push for the Knesset to be dissolved.<\/p>\n

Degel Hatorah\u2019s spiritual leader wrote in a letter to the faction\u2019s Knesset members that, \u201cWe no longer have trust in Netanyahu.\u201d<\/p>\n

The haredi draft bill currently being advanced in the Knesset\u2019s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee remains highly controversial. Critics argue that the legislation is primarily intended to appease the haredi parties in Netanyahu\u2019s coalition and would do little to increase enlistment. A group of coalition MKs has vowed not to vote for it for that reason.<\/p>\n

Urgent manpower shortage after more than two years of war<\/strong><\/p>\n

The IDF<\/a> has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, particularly after more than two years of war.<\/p>\n

There are numerous reports that the haredi parties are seeking to set the election date in September, ahead of the High Holy Days, to increase haredi voter turnout.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu reportedly opposed the move and instead sought to keep elections in late October, allowing the coalition more time to advance legislation during the Knesset\u2019s final session and potentially achieve military goals.<\/p>\n

The coalition has fast-tracked several controversial bills this week, scheduling marathon committee meetings to advance as much legislation as possible ahead of a potential Knesset dissolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The coalition\u2019s bill to dissolve the Knesset passed its preliminary reading on Wednesday in the Knesset plenum, amid…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":809968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[372,90,78128,99,27269,50],"class_list":["post-809967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-elections","tag-haredi-draft","tag-israel","tag-knesset","tag-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116607247024234557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}