The Media Line: Report: Coalition Prepares Knesset Dissolution Bill as Haredi Revolt Deepens 

Report: Coalition Prepares Knesset Dissolution Bill as Haredi Revolt Deepens 

By The Media Line Staff 

Israel’s governing coalition is preparing its own bill to dissolve the Knesset and move the country toward early elections, Israeli media reported Wednesday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance faces a deepening revolt by ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) parties over the failure to pass legislation preserving military draft exemptions for yeshiva students. 

Ynet reported that coalition officials expect to submit a dissolution bill that could receive a preliminary vote as early as next Wednesday. The move would allow the coalition to shape the timetable and conditions of the dissolution process rather than leave the initiative to opposition parties, which have already filed their own bills. 

The political crisis escalated after Rabbi Dov Lando, the senior spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, called on the faction’s lawmakers to act quickly to dissolve the Knesset. “We no longer have trust in [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Lando wrote, according to The Jerusalem Post. “From this point onward, we will do only what is good for Haredi Judaism and the yeshiva world.” He added, “Steps must be taken to dissolve the Knesset as soon as possible. All kinds of talk about a ‘bloc’ no longer exist.” 

United Torah Judaism said Tuesday it would seek early elections after the coalition failed to advance the draft exemption bill, a long-running demand of the Haredi parties. Shas has also shown signs of distancing itself from Netanyahu’s bloc, further weakening the coalition’s ability to command a stable majority. 

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid urged lawmakers to move quickly. “After three and a half years of pain and division and disasters and governmental decay, let’s not drag through another entire summer of corruption and hatred among brothers. Let’s dissolve the Knesset as early as next week,” Lapid said. 

A Knesset dissolution bill must pass the required legislative stages, including final approval by at least 61 members of the 120-seat parliament. Elections are currently due by late October, but the crisis could push the vote forward to September.