Coalition rushes through disputed bills as elections near

With the 25th Knesset nearing dissolution and elections approaching, the coalition is accelerating a package of highly controversial bills that could reshape public institutions, civil rights, and the balance between state powers. The proposals are already at different stages, from preliminary approval to final passage, and critics say the legislative blitz deepens sectarian politics, weakens oversight, and harms equality, institutional independence, and democracy.

Among the most advanced bills is the daycare subsidy proposal for children of draft dodgers, which passed a preliminary vote in May 2026 and was sent to the Finance Committee in June. Its eligibility is based on the mother’s status, allowing support even in families where the father does not enlist. Also advancing is the Basic Law on Torah study, which seeks to enshrine Torah learning as a foundational value and could provide a constitutional basis for exempting students from military service.

The coalition is also moving to cancel the kosher reform, restore broad rabbinical monopoly power over kosher certification, and the Western Wall bill, which would entrench Orthodox control, ban mixed prayer, and impose financial and even criminal penalties. A military service extension bill would lengthen regular service for men to 36 months on a temporary basis, while a law to split the attorney general and state attorney roles would make the attorney general’s opinion nonbinding.

Other measures include the final passage on 11 June 2026 of the law removing the police internal investigations unit from the prosecution and placing it under the Justice Ministry, the judicial override proposal that would sharply limit Supreme Court review, and a communications overhaul that would change licensing rules and let the government shape ratings measurement. The coalition is also advancing a pay law affecting judges and other officials, and a politically controlled inquiry committee for the 7 October attacks, which opponents fear could replace a state commission and limit the scope of the investigation.