Calls for early elections intensify after Haredi leadership rejects Netanyahu coalition

On Wednesday Rabbi Dov Lando, the senior spiritual leader of the Haredi United Torah Judaism party’s Degel HaTorah faction, called for dissolving the Knesset.

He proposed bringing forward elections over the coalition’s failure to pass a long-promised draft exemption law for yeshiva students.

The seven-member UTJ faction said on Tuesday it would pursue legislation to dissolve the Knesset, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition had failed to enshrine exemptions from military service for Haredi yeshiva students.

Multiple opposition parties quickly responded by submitting their own bills to dissolve parliament, with Yesh Atid seeking to advance the process on Wednesday.

It remained unclear whether a vote would take place or pass, although general elections are required by law no later than 27 October 2026. If brought forward, elections could be held as early as August.

“From this point forward, we will do only what is best for Haredi Judaism and the yeshiva world,” Lando said on Tuesday. “We no longer have any trust in Netanyahu. We must act to dissolve the Knesset as soon as possible. The concept of a right-wing bloc no longer exists as far as we are concerned.”

To succeed, any dissolution effort would require backing from opposition parties as well as Shas, which holds 11 seats and has not yet declared its position.

The political crisis deepened after reports that Netanyahu had told Haredi lawmakers the coalition lacked the votes to pass the legislation and suggested shelving it until after elections. The issue has strained ties within the governing coalition since it was formed in December 2022.

Within the coalition, MK Boaz Bismuth urged restraint, saying, “Don’t dismantle the bloc.”

“We have one leader steering the ship. The authority, decision-making power and final word belong solely to Prime Minister Netanyahu,” he said.

Bismuth chairs the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, which is responsible for preparing the legislation.

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, the committee’s former chairman, wrote on X: “To my great regret, I am forced to say today I told you so.”

Edelstein took a harder line on conscription, and Haredi pressure led to his removal from the position.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party also warned against early elections, calling on coalition partners “not to bring down the government.”

An estimated 80,000 Haredi men eligible for military service have not enlisted.

Coalition leaders, who depend on support from Haredi parties to remain in power, have repeatedly struggled to find a compromise acceptable both to Haredi leaders and to Israelis demanding equal military service obligations.

The military began planning to draft yeshiva students after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled in 2024 that exemptions for the Haredi community were illegal.

Military service is compulsory for most Israeli citizens. However, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, and the country’s leading rabbis agreed to a status quo arrangement that deferred military service for Haredi men studying in yeshivot, or religious institutions.

At the time, only several hundred men were studying in yeshivot.