The Israeli opposition has failed to pass a bill aimed at dissolving the Knesset, the country’s parliament, Channel 14 reported early Thursday.
According to the channel, 61 members out of the 120 that make up the Knesset voted against the proposed legislation, compared to 53 who supported it.
Before the vote, ultra-Orthodox parties declared their opposition to the bill following the announcement by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Chairman, Yuli Edelstein, that preliminary agreements had been reached regarding the mandatory military draft law.
Opposition parties, including Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid and Yisrael Beiteinu led by former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, had announced their intention last Wednesday to propose the dissolution of the Knesset.
On 4 June, the Yesh Atid party formally submitted a request for the vote to be held on 11 June. Meanwhile, Yair Golan, head of the Israeli Democrats Party, stated that the war on Gaza “has lost its justification and turned into a political war aimed at keeping Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in power”. Netanyahu is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The opposition has accused Netanyahu of trying to pass legislation that would exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service, in response to demands from the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, both of which are part of the governing coalition. The opposition sees this move as an attempt to maintain the government’s stability and avoid its collapse.
The last parliamentary elections took place at the end of 2022, which means that the date of the next elections is the end of 2026, unless early elections are called.