Netanyahu Faces Knesset Dissolution Vote After Coalition Split
Israeli lawmakers moved a bill to dissolve the knesset on Wednesday after Benjamin Netanyahu lost support from two major ultra-Orthodox parties. The initial vote opened the way for elections that could shift from October to September if the measure clears the remaining steps.
Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox split
The immediate break came earlier this month, when the two major ultra-Orthodox parties deserted Netanyahu after he told them he did not expect to be able to pass the exemptions bill. That left his coalition without a parliamentary majority in Israel’s 120-member Knesset and set up the dissolution vote that followed two weeks later.
Netanyahu has depended on ultra-Orthodox religious parties for much of his 17 years in power, but the dispute over military-service exemptions has turned into a direct test of that alliance. Many Israelis have grown angry over a system that has allowed ultra-Orthodox men to skip military service during 2 1/2 years of active fighting in multiple countries.
Sharren Haskel and Yitzhak Pindrus
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said at least seven members of the coalition would not support the draft bill, making the numbers even tighter for Netanyahu. She said after the vote: "The ultra-Orthodox are trying to extort us. It’s immoral. It’s not fair,"
Yitzhak Pindrus said his faction had no plans to return to the coalition. Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, said of Netanyahu: "He made a promise to his most loyal allies in the coalition, and he could not deliver, he kept postponing,"
September election timetable
The practical result for Israeli voters is a possible one-month change in the election calendar, from October to September. If the dissolution bill advances, Netanyahu will be fighting not just for his coalition’s survival but for time, after the loss of support that followed the exemptions fight and the political strain from the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and the wars that followed.
