Israel's ruling coalition has submitted a bill to dissolve the current Knesset (the country's parliament), state-run Kan TV reported.
The bill was introduced on May 13 by coalition chairman Ofir Katz, a member of parliament from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. The bill was supported by the leaders of all coalition factions. The date for early parliamentary elections is expected to be determined through discussions in the Knesset Affairs Committee.
As Kan notes, the coalition has taken this step to control the process and timing of the dissolution of parliament, which was initially initiated by one of the ultra-religious factions and supported by the opposition. A vote on dissolving the Knesset is expected to take place next week.
According to Ynet, the coalition has already discussed possible dates for early elections, with September 1 or 15 being considered. The religious Shas party supports this option, hoping that its voters may be more active during this period. Representatives of the Likud and Religious Zionist parties, however, believe that holding early elections could be disadvantageous for the current coalition and suggest waiting longer. In particular, Religious Zionist leader Bezalel Smotrich, fearing that his far-right party will not pass the electoral threshold, is seeking to postpone the vote until October 27. The next Knesset elections were originally scheduled for that date.
On May 12, the ultra-Orthodox party “Degel haTorah“ (Banner of the Torah) called for the dissolution of the Knesset due to renewed disagreements within the coalition over the issue of conscription for Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of this party, which represents the interests of Lithuania's ultra-Orthodox Jews (Lithuanians), sent a letter to its members calling for the immediate dissolution of parliament.
According to him, the Orthodox have lost confidence in Netanyahu. Previously, according to Kan, the prime minister made it clear to the Orthodox that the law to abolish conscription for students in yeshiva (religious schools) currently lacks a majority and should be postponed.
In these circumstances, the leading opposition factions in the Knesset immediately supported the idea of dissolving the legislative body. The “Yesh Atid“ and “Democrats“ parties announced that they had already prepared bills to dissolve the Knesset, which are scheduled for consideration next week. The “Yisrael Beiteinu“ party announced plans to submit its own bill to dissolve parliament next week.
The current Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, was formed in late 2022 after parliamentary elections held in November of that year. The coalition is formed around the right-wing Likud party, led by Netanyahu. It also includes far-right and ultra-Orthodox political forces.
The Knesset's term is four years. In April 2023, Israel's Central Election Commission decided that the country's next parliamentary elections would be held on October 27, 2026, unless parliament is dissolved early.