Overview
- Lawmakers approved a preliminary bill to dissolve the Knesset on Wednesday, with about 110 votes in favor and none against.
- The measure now moves to a committee that will propose an election date before returning for three readings, with a final 61-vote majority needed to make it law.
- The push followed ultra-Orthodox parties breaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a stalled law to exempt many yeshiva students from military service.
- Israel’s High Court ruled in June 2024 that there was no legal basis for long-standing draft exemptions, a shift that touches an estimated tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men and has sharpened public anger during wartime call-ups.
- Polls indicate Netanyahu’s bloc would likely lose a snap vote, and his coalition filed its own dissolution bill on May 13 to steer the timetable as he also faces a corruption trial with plea talks mediated by President Isaac Herzog.