Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman, a member of the opposition, characterized the legislation as a bid to again abuse taxpayer money before parliament dispersed and called it a \u201ccontemptible attempt to tie the end of the session to increasing party funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loggerheads were characteristic of the tumultuous past week, as the coalition fast-tracked several extremely divisive bills through its final readings and approved a spate of budgeting requests, some linked to funds earmarked in coalition agreements.<\/p>\n
Addressing the plenum, Knesset Speaker MK Amir Ohana, of Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party, called the 25th Knesset the \u201cmost challenging\u201d in Israeli history.<\/p>\n
\t \u201cIt included protests of many kinds, accompanied the longest and most difficult war in the country\u2019s history, [as well as] the bereaved families, evacuees from the north and south, the wounded and combat trauma victims and the families of the hostages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, he claimed that the Knesset also saw \u201cmajor moments of broad agreement and legislation that benefited many sectors of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is my hope that we will return here soon and remember that, despite all our disagreements, we are not enemies, but partners, even if political rivals, and that we are all part of one people and one country,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n The coalition passed a long list of laws in a marathon session wrapping up the 25th Knesset, including highly controversial legislation stripping powers from the attorney general, freezing the arrests of Haredi draft dodgers, and significantly expanding government oversight of media outlets.<\/p>\n The final law passed as part of the rushed effort, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi\u2019s sweeping media overhaul<\/a>, went through at midnight, hours before the Knesset\u2019s dissolution.<\/p>\n \t The night prior, the Knesset voted to pass a law significantly weakening the powers of the attorney general \u2014 one of Israel\u2019s few checks on executive power \u2014 after over eleven hours of filibustering.<\/p>\n Taking effect in January 2027, it would effectively strip the attorney general of authority over the government<\/a> by allowing ministers to reject the attorney general\u2019s currently binding legal positions.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the coalition pushed through a law temporarily banning the\u00a0arrest and prosecution of ultra-Orthodox men evading military service, legitimizing continued mass Haredi non-enlistment.<\/a> In practice, the measure stands to halt most Haredi enlistment to the IDF for the next few months at least. That law was immediately frozen by the High Court of Justice, pending a hearing. Several of the other expedited laws have also been petitioned to the High Court.<\/p>\n Mandatory service period extended<\/p>\n At midnight, just before voting to dissolve parliament, the Knesset approved a bill extending the mandatory service period for male soldiers to 32 months from the current 30, despite the objection of the IDF, which repeatedly urged the government to lengthen the period to 36 months amid manpower shortages.<\/p>\n Forty-three lawmakers supported the bill, 12 opposed it, and one abstained.<\/p>\n Mandatory service for male soldiers was slashed from 36 months to 32 months in 2015. It was shortened again to 30 months in 2020, before being extended back to 32 months a year later, with the planned reduction to 30 months postponed by three years. In August 2024, amid the multi-front war sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, the mandatory service period was automatically shortened again to 30 months.<\/p>\n The first cohort enlisted under this shorter service period was supposed to be discharged in January 2027, which would have exacerbated the military\u2019s manpower shortages.<\/p>\n Under the latest legislation, the mandatory service time will again be shortened to 30 months in June 2029.<\/p>\n The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits \u2014 including 7,000 combat troops \u2014 due to the strain on its standing and reserve forces caused by the yearslong multifront war. If the 30-month service period had remained in place until January 2027, the IDF said it would have found itself short thousands more soldiers. Some 70,000 ultra-Orthodox men are currently eligible for service but have not been drafted.<\/p>\n Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this,<\/strong> please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community.<\/strong> Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tSpeaker Amir Ohana in a preliminary vote to dissolve the Knesset, May 20, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F260716YS48.jpg\")
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\n\t\tCommunications Minister Shlomo Karhi attends a vote at the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
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