Israeli Elections Now Likely Set for Late October if Dissolution Fails Today
Israel is now on track for elections at the end of October unless the bill to dissolve the Knesset is approved by midnight today, June 15. The article says this is the last day to pass the legislation in time for a September election, and because the Tishrei holidays fall in the middle of the required period, the earliest practical alternative would be late October. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly prefers October 20.
The reason is that the Central Elections Committee needs 90 days to prepare for election day, and there is no sign the Knesset will advance the bill today. The dissolution measure still needs three readings before final approval. If it does not pass, the election date will effectively be pushed to the end of October, as Netanyahu wants.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu faces renewed political pressure from the ultra-Orthodox factions, which are again threatening to disrupt Knesset work. The immediate dispute is over the daycare subsidies law, which would effectively bypass the attorney general’s, backed by the High Court, decision to revoke subsidies for families of yeshiva students. The issue is tied directly to the sensitive draft-exemption debate, and opposition comes not only from the opposition but also from parts of the coalition, especially Likud and Religious Zionism, making a majority uncertain.
Coalition officials had initially tried to postpone the bill, but Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni sent a clear message to Netanyahu’s circle and senior coalition figures that, without the law, the Knesset would be paralyzed this week. Likud also wants to complete several other bills before dissolution, including a proposal to split the attorney general’s role, a national commission of inquiry law, and other governance measures affecting automatic dismissal of senior public officials within 100 days after the election. The coalition is now examining whether it can pass the daycare subsidies law with coalition MKs who oppose the draft bill, even though that would likely trigger public criticism. Last week, after the deal with the ultra-Orthodox on the Torah study basic law, the coalition also passed the bill removing the police internal investigations unit, Machash, from the State Attorney’s Office. According to the report, Justice Ministry director-general Itamar Donenfeld has already begun forming the selection committee for the new head of Machash, and that process is expected to take about a month.
