By Pesach Benson • May 27, 2026
Jerusalem, 27 May, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Knesset House Committee is expected to deliberate on Monday on a bill to dissolve the Knesset, with the measure scheduled to advance later that day for its first reading in the plenary, coalition whip and committee chairman MK Ofir Katz (Likud) said in a statement on Wednesday.
The proposal, which passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum last week by a 110–0 vote, was not immediately advanced to the next stage.
In response to the delay, opposition MK Merav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid) sent a letter to Katz urging him to place the bill on the committee’s agenda without further postponement.
Katz confirmed the revised timetable on Wednesday, outlining a coordinated sequence that would bring the bill before both the committee and the plenum on the same day. He added that the updated schedule removes the possibility of holding elections on September 1, 2026, narrowing the timeline for any early vote. Regardless, Israel must hold elections by October 27.
If approved by the House Committee, the bill will proceed to the Knesset plenum for the initial reading, after which it will return to committee for further revisions and preparation for second and third readings before final passage.
Only after final passage will an election date be set.
The governing coalition has been strained by its failure to pass controversial legislation enshrining conscription exemptions for Orthodox (Haredi) yeshiva students, a long-standing issue.
An estimated 80,000 Haredi men eligible for military service have not enlisted. Coalition leaders, dependent on support from Haredi parties to remain in power, have repeatedly struggled to find a compromise acceptable both to Haredi leadership and to Israelis demanding equal military service obligations.
The military began making plans 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 all Israeli citizens. However, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, and the country’s leading rabbis agreed to a status quo that deferred military service for Haredi men studying in yeshivot, or religious institutions. At the time, no more than several hundred men were studying in yeshivot.
