The Knesset dissolved itself following a multiday deluge of legislation put forth by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, setting the stage for elections later this year.
Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve the parliament early Friday following an overnight marathon that wrapped up days of last-minute legislative priorities for the government. The bills passed this week by the governing coalition aimed to reward loyal allies and shore up Netanyahu’s position as voter intention polls look ominous.
“We are completing a four-year term, we passed nine budgets and hundreds of bills, I thank you for the trust you placed in me, through which together we succeeded in maintaining a four-year term,” said Speaker Amir Ohana as the Knesset session wrapped.
“It is my hope that we will return here soon and remember that, despite all our disagreements, we are not enemies, but partners, even if political rivals, and that we are all part of one people and one country,” he said.
It is the first time since 1988 that an Israeli government completed a full term in power — a highly unusual achievement historically.
Since the Knesset was scheduled to break for summer recess on Friday anyway, the election to determine the next leader of the nation will not take place until Oct. 27.
One of the biggest victories for the governing coalition — rushed out overnight before the parliament dissolved — was a bill granting the government expansive oversight of national media.
Championed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, it was characterized as a strike against “the Left’s monopoly” on private media.
“After a determined struggle against every possible entity from the deep state, tycoons, legal advisers, bureaucrats, and panic channels that tried to stop the reform by any means, we succeeded in passing the right-wing reform in the media. We defeated the deep state,” Karhi said on X.
The bill replaces the existing Second Authority for Television and Radio and the Council for Cable and Satellite Broadcasting with a unified government regulatory body with jurisdiction over all media and platforms. The members of that body will be selected by Karhi.
Earlier in the week, the coalition pushed through a bill temporarily suspending the prosecution of ultra-Orthodox Jews arrested for dodging the draft. That bill met the demands of ultra-Orthodox parties that threatened to pull out of the coalition if the crackdown against their communities was not ended.
The High Court of Justice, which previously ruled that draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews were unconstitutional, immediately issued a ruling freezing the implementation of the law.
ISRAELI HIGH COURT INTERVENES AGAINST LAW SUSPENDING ARREST OF ULTRA-ORTHODOX DRAFT DODGERS
A constitutional crisis is emerging between the government and the High Court as Netanyahu, Karhi, and other ministers increasingly disregard the judges’ authority, dismissing them as a “judicial mafia.”
The coalition passed a supplemental bill that also declared Torah study a “foundational value” of the country.