Opposition parties confirm will submit bill today to dissolve Knesset

By Sam Sokol 11 June 2025, 10:49 am

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Head of The Democrats party Yair Golan, head of National Unity party Benny Gantz, head of Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid and head of Yisrael Beytenu party Avigdor Liberman hold a joint press conference at the Knesset, November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a joint statement, the Knesset opposition parties announce that they will place a bill to dissolve the Knesset on today’s agenda, adding that the decision was “made unanimously and is binding on all factions.”

“In addition, in coordination between all factions, it was decided to remove opposition legislation from the agenda in order to concentrate all efforts on one goal: to overthrow the government,” reads the statement, which is released following a meeting of the opposition parties in the Knesset.

The coalition is widely expected to seek to pack the agenda with its own bills in order to delay a preliminary vote on the measure.

It remains unclear if both the Haredi parties will ultimately support the legislation to dissolve the Knesset in today’s preliminary vote.

With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline coalition currently holding 68 out of the 120 parliamentary seats, both Shas and United Torah Judaism would need to back the measure.

The two parties have publicly said that they will vote to dissolve the Knesset in the bill’s preliminary reading due to the coalition’s failure to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service. However, Shas is working hard behind the scenes to postpone the vote and prevent the fall of the government. The legislation, if advanced today, would require three more plenum votes to take effect.