Coalition packs legislative agenda with bills in attempt to delay vote on dissolving Knesset

In an apparent attempt to buy time while it negotiates with the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition packs the Knesset’s agenda with numerous bills, likely delaying a preliminary vote on dissolving the Knesset until this evening.

In a joint statement earlier this morning, the Knesset opposition parties announced that they would place bills to dissolve the Knesset on the agenda and would all of their other legislation from the agenda “in order to concentrate all efforts on one goal: to overthrow the government.”

Shortly thereafter, the Knesset released today’s legislative agenda, which runs to nine pages, with the various bills to dissolve the Knesset set to be considered only after a long list of coalition measures.

Senior coalition officials are currently in talks with the Haredi officials in hopes of finding common ground on the issue of military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, and prevent the advancement of the opposition legislation.

Both the United Torah Judaism and Shas parties have said they will support dissolution, although Shas appears to have begun pulling back and its chairman, Aryeh Deri, was reportedly pushing to find a compromise.

According to HaDerech, Shas’s official newspaper, the party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages will decide on a course of action today, leaving its position unclear in the interim.

If the legislation to dissolve the Knesset passes its preliminary vote today, it would still need to pass three further votes to take effect. If it fails, opposition parties have to wait six months to bring another Knesset dissolution bill to a vote.