Ofir Katz’s Coalition Submits Bill To Dissolve Israel’s 25th Knesset For Early Elections

Israel’s ruling coalition submitted a bill to dissolve the 25th Knesset on Wednesday evening, with coalition chairman Ofir Katz filing the legislation signed by leaders of the coalition parties.

The bill was presented as a way to pave the way for early elections, with its draft saying “The 25th Knesset shall be dissolved before the end of its term,” and that elections would be held on a date determined by the Knesset Committee that “may not be set earlier than 90 days after the passage of this law.”

93.3 The Drive

The move followed ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) leaders calling for dissolving the Knesset and holding early elections over the coalition’s failure to pass a new IDF draft law to preserve broad exemptions from military service for yeshiva students.

Opposition parties announced support for the dissolution effort, and opposition head Yair Lapid posted on 𝕏: “We are ready. Together.”

The bill’s timing is tied to parliamentary process, with the coalition’s proposal leaving the election date to be set through deliberations in a parliamentary committee and with by-law constraints that would place voting no later than mid-October at the latest, just days before the scheduled Oct. 27 deadline.

Ultra-Orthodox parties accused Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to deliver on a promise to pass a law that would permanently exempt young men from their community studying in yeshivas from compulsory military service.

Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of Degel Hatorah, told party Knesset members, “We no longer have confidence in Netanyahu,” and said “Steps must be taken to dissolve the Knesset as soon as possible.”

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The coalition’s filing was described as pre-empting opposition efforts, after several opposition parties announced on Tuesday they intended to introduce their own bill to dissolve the Knesset.

Yair Lapid’s response was swift, with The Guardian reporting he wrote on X, “We are ready Together,” referring to his new alliance, Beyahad, formed with former premier Naftali Bennett.

The dispute is anchored in the haredi draft bill on conscription exemptions, with the coalition’s move framed as an attempt to control the electoral timetable while opposition groups align with the Haredi push to force early elections.

The bill’s approval would trigger elections after 90 days, and Israeli media reports cited a possible vote on May 20, with elections potentially held from the third week of August ahead of the original scheduled end of the legislative term on 27 October.

The Jerusalem Post said elections must take place no later than five months after the bill is approved and that the bill was expected to be brought for a preliminary reading next week, while also noting the Knesset opened its summer session on Sunday in its final summer term before elections.

The political stakes are tied to Netanyahu’s coalition arithmetic and his ability to manage the process, with the bill seen as a way for Netanyahu to control the pace of the process and the date of the elections.

The Guardian reported that Netanyahu appeared to be facing a possible collapse of his fractious coalition, and it described the bill as signed by leaders of the six parliamentary groups in the governing coalition.

In the background of the dissolution push, the sources tie the crisis to the haredi conscription dispute and to the question of whether a majority exists to pass the draft exemption law, with Rabbi Dov Lando’s letter saying, “We no longer have trust in Netanyahu,” and with the opposition preparing its own dissolution bills for next week’s agenda.