Israel’s Knesset Committee Approves Dissolving Knesset Ahead of September 8 Election Deadline

Israel’s Knesset committee approved by an 8-0 vote a proposal to dissolve the Knesset for a vote, with a bill expected to be brought for a first reading later today as election deadlines approach.

“Last update: 25 June 2026, 21:00 Results by poll Average of channels 11, 12 and 13 Average of channels 11, 12 and 13 Average of all the polls Channel 11 Channel 12 Channel 13 Channel 14 Channel 15 Maariv Last poll Last 2 polls Last 3 polls The averages include parties that in some polls fail to win the four seats needed to make parliament, producing more or fewer than the Knesset’s 120 seats”

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The committee set a timeline for the election starting September 8 and ending October 20, with two possible dates: October 27 (the original) or September 15 (earlier).

@haaretzcom

Euronews said the coalition initiated the bill to prevent the opposition from achieving a 'victory image,' after the opposition had announced its intent to submit a similar bill.

The same report tied the push for early dissolution to a deep rift over the conscription of the Haredim, after the Israeli Supreme Court issued a ruling mandating the Haredim to be drafted and barring financial aid to religious institutions whose students refuse to serve.

Euronews also said the dispute comes as Israel calls up hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers amid ongoing escalation and war in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza, in addition to the war on Iran.

A poll conducted this week for Zman Yisrael found that about 51% of Israelis said they did not believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's account of the decisions he made as head of government before the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

The Times of Israël reported that on a separate question asked by the N12 channel, 47% of respondents said they believed the opposition's claim that parts of the document had been altered, while 32% said they believed Netanyahu and 21% said they did not know.

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The Times of Israël also described how Arab parties could affect seat totals, saying that if the Arab parties ran separately they would win 11 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, but if they ran on a joint list they would win 15 seats.

In the scenario where Arab parties ran on a joint list, the Times of Israël said the distribution would leave the anti-Netanyahu bloc with only 53 seats and the current coalition with 52 seats, with Likud winning the largest number of mandates at 27.

The same article added that the electoral threshold is 3.25% of the vote and that Balad would not cross it unless it was part of the joint list.

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced the creation of a joint party named 'Beyahad' ('Together') under Bennett’s leadership ahead of Israeli legislative elections scheduled for October, with the announcement made in Herzliya, Israel on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

At the press conference, Bennett said, "I am happy to announce that tonight, with my friend Yair Lapid, I am carrying out the most Zionist and patriotic act we have ever accomplished for our country," and Lapid said, "Naftali Bennett is a man of the right, but an honest right, and there is trust between us,".

The Times of Israël poll coverage described how Bennet and Lapid’s merger could still leave the balance of power largely unchanged, with a joint list credited with 38 seats without fundamentally changing the balance of power between the two rival blocs.

Haaretz’s election poll tracker update dated 25 June 2026, 21:00 showed a bloc breakdown with 57 for the Netanyahu bloc and 53 for the Arab parties, alongside an Eisenkot-Bennett bloc figure of 53.

Haaretz’s tracker also reiterated that the averages include parties that in some polls fail to win the four seats needed to make parliament, while the electoral threshold remains 3.25% of the vote.