Opposition pulls filibuster speeches in bid to catch out Likud in vote for repeat elections

Opposition parties have given up their right to deliver speeches opposing the bill to dissolve the Knesset and force new elections, attempting to catch out the ruling Likud party and push the vote forward before it has enough MKs in the parliament.

Likud MK Yoav Kisch, who tried to protest the move, now has 30 minutes to sum up the debate before a vote is held, unless the Likud can find a loophole to extend the debate.

As the Knesset prepared to vote to dissolve parliament and call new elections if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to lock down a government by a midnight deadline, parties not involved in the coalition talks threatened to filibuster the Knesset session to foil the dissolution and enable the possibility of another lawmaker being given a shot at coalition-building. Lawmakers were debating the proposal in the Knesset since noon.

Theoretically, the Likud-drafted motion to dissolve the Knesset could be pulled at any time before the final vote if a compromise to the coalition crisis is found. The prime minister has until midnight to announce a new coalition, and his bid to call elections — the second national ballot in a matter of months — seemed geared to prevent the president from tasking someone else with forming a government.