From the Liveblog of
Monday, July 6, 2026
Lapid says coalition laying groundwork to contest election; opposition split over future of Likud
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accuses the government of laying the groundwork to contest the upcoming national election, following its unprecedented decision yesterday not to respect a June High Court ruling. He argues that the coalition wants “to go to elections without a court.”
At his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting, Lapid says Sunday’s cabinet declaration rejecting a High Court ruling concerning the Council of the Second Authority for Television and Radio is part of a larger “organized plan” to “steal the elections.”
Lapid argues that the coalition has increasingly directed its fire at the judiciary, including Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice Noam Solberg, who, despite being a conservative religious jurist who resides in a West Bank settlement, has “one fatal flaw” in that he also chairs the Central Elections Committee, and therefore has the authority to prevent the government from “stealing the election.”
Since taking office, the coalition has repeatedly sought to weaken and delegitimize the judiciary — one of Israel’s few checks on government power. With elections set to be held by October 27, critics argue that the coalition is preparing to contest an electoral defeat by eroding confidence in the courts and refusing to recognize their authority.
“If the government does not obey the law, we are not obligated to obey the government,” Lapid declares. “The laws they pass here will not apply to us. We will not cooperate with them, and we will repeal every law they pass and every appointment they make as soon as we return to power.”
Democrats party chair Yair Golan, meanwhile, urges fellow opposition leaders to pledge that no coalition minister or lawmaker supporting defiance of High Court rulings should be allowed to serve in a future “government of recovery and change.”
This contrasts with Lapid and Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman, who say they would be willing to sit in a government with a post-Netanyahu Likud, as well as Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, who has failed to cross the electoral threshold in polls for months, and who continues to advocate for a broad “Zionist” government while declining to explicitly rule out serving alongside Netanyahu.
While a post-Netanyahu Likud currently appears improbable, with Netanyahu firmly in control of the party after being reaffirmed as leader last year without opposition, Lapid and Liberman may nevertheless be seeking to signal to potential future defectors from the party that they would have a place in an alternative governing coalition.
The Times of Israel Community.