Israeli parliament advances bill to dissolve itself and trigger early elections 

The Israeli parliament has advanced a bill to dissolve itself, which could lead to elections as early as September.

The bill, which was advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, passed its first reading late on Monday, with 106 lawmakers voting in favour, while no objections were recorded.

According to Haaretz, the law, whose final approval is pending two further readings in the Knesset, opens the possibility of elections between 8 September and 20 October, altering the original date of the elections on 27 October. 

The vote was triggered after Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, one of the two ultra-Orthodox parties that compose the United Torah Judaism party, ordered his party’s members to dissolve the Knesset.

Lando’s announcement came amid a growing ultra-Orthodox discontent with the government’s failure to pass a comprehensive draft evasion law for ultra-Orthodox young men since the government took power in late 2022.

The issue of the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men in the army become a key discussion point in Israel since the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza. Since Israel’s independence in 1948, ultra-Orthodox men have largely been exempt from enlisting in the army.

However, with Israel’s ongoing wars in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, army officials have warned that if ultra-Orthodox Jews would not enlist, it would hurt the army’s capabilities. 

The Haaretz report said that the United Torah Judaism party is aiming to conduct the elections on the first of September, while Shas, the other ultra-Orthodox ally of Netanyahu, asked that the elections be held on 15 September.

Elections under pressure

Israel’s Central Elections Committee warned that elections on 15 September, a period of successive Jewish holidays, would lead to a one-day delay in the vote counting and the publishing of the official results.

The elections committee has come under pressure from Netanyahu and his allies in recent months. The committee’s former longtime director, Orly Adas, resigned in May, stating her resignation was meant to prevent undermining the committee.

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On Monday, Yitzhak Amit, President of Israel’s Supreme Court, warned against attempts to undermine the election results, saying that “if anything can be faked, why believe anything at all?” 

Amit added that “the fake phenomenon” poses “a threat to the very existence of the electoral process and to the functioning of the democratic system”.

Netanyahu has been struggling in the polls in recent years, with Ma’ariv’s poll from Friday suggesting his current coalition could win up to 52 Knesset seats, far away from the 61 seats needed to form a government.

Last week, Channel 13 News reported that Netanyahu is considering banning the United Arab List (Ra’am) from the elections, which may be designated as a terrorist group.

The move is seen as a way to prevent any of Netanyahu’s opponents from forming a governing coalition, as Ra’am and the other Palestinian parties in Israel could determine who can be Israel’s next prime minister should they win a few seats in the Knesset.