Opposition leaders assail coalition’s end-of-term legislative blitz, ‘fire sale’ of Israel to Haredim

By Ariela Karmel

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13 July 2026, 1:35 pm

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Ariela 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 leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 13, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition leaders blast the coalition’s end-of-term legislative blitz ahead of their weekly faction meetings, accusing the government of using its final days in office to push through controversial measures.

“This is the final week of this Knesset. The coalition is going wild to — at the very last moment — pass bills against democracy, against IDF soldiers and against the rule of law, as well as to give jobs to cronies, money to draft dodgers and to promote religious coercion,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says.

Speaking at his own faction meeting, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman calls the legislative push a “fire sale of the State of Israel and all of our basic values.”

The coalition is racing to pass a series of contentious bills before the Knesset dissolves on Friday ahead of the October 27 election, under an agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties, which are supporting coalition-backed judicial and media legislation in exchange for measures aimed at protecting yeshiva students from military service.

Liberman vows that he will not join a future government that includes the Haredi parties, in response to recent comments by Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot, who has emerged as the main frontrunner to replace Netanyahu, that he would be willing to sit in a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party if it recognizes Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state, endorses the values of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, and commits to all Israelis performing national service.

“Yisrael Beytenu will not sit in a coalition with the Haredi parties,” Liberman says. “Anyone who sits with them shouldn’t count on us.”

Responding on X, Democrats leader Yair Golan, whose party will hold its faction meeting later today, says he would draw an even firmer line.

“I heard my colleague Liberman draw a red line, and I’ll go one better: None of the parties in the October 7 coalition will be partners in the government we form,” he says.

At his own faction meeting, Golan vows to repeal the legislative agenda of the “most corrupt, extremist and violent coalition” in Israel’s history if elected, declaring that repealing and replacing “the laws of destruction” advancing in the Knesset’s final days ahead of its dissolution on Friday will be the first priority of the next parliament.