On Sunday, July 19 – two days after Israel’s 25th Knesset completed its statutory term and exactly 100 days before the October 27 election – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir joined settlers and lawmakers marching toward the Gaza perimeter.

The demonstrators demanded the reestablishment of three settlements evacuated during Israel’s 2005 disengagement: Nisanit, Dugit, and Elei Sinai. Ben Gvir posted a video from the fence line with a caption requiring no interpretation: “Gaza is ours.” Smotrich warned that a victory by “the left” could undo what he called “the entire Zionist and national settlement revolution that we have brought about during this term.”

Smotrich had previously claimed that plans for three settlements in northern Gaza were complete and required only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval. Defense Minister Israel Katz has separately proposed establishing three “Nahal” military outposts, historically a first step toward civilian settlement. Netanyahu has not approved either proposal.

The march was organized by Nachala, the hardline settler movement led by Daniella Weiss. Addressing the crowd, Weiss dispensed with euphemism: “There will be no more Arabs in Gaza. Period.”

The historical milestone that week was not the Knesset’s dissolution itself. It was the absence of an early dissolution. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, the October vote will be Israel’s first election since 1988 to follow the completion of a full Knesset term, after 13 consecutive early elections.

Netanyahu’s government is also the first since 1973 to remain in office throughout an entire parliamentary term. That achievement is especially striking in a country that held five elections between 2019 and 2022. From 1996 through 2022, Israel held elections every 2.4 years on average. Including the full interval before the 2026 vote raises that average to approximately 2.5 years.

Israel has no prime-ministerial term limits, and Netanyahu is already its longest-serving leader. Yet even he has rarely completed a full term.

A full term, but what has it built?

Six days before the Gaza march, on July 13, the Knesset passed a Basic Law declaring Torah study a “foundational value” of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. The measure passed 63-52 after 10 hours of opposition filibustering.

According to the Israel Democracy Institute’s legal analysis, Torah study is now the only value explicitly declared in one of Israel’s Basic Laws, giving it a unique quasi-constitutional status. This elevates it above military service, democratic participation, and every other expression of national belonging within Israel’s constitutional framework.

The final text did not formally equate Torah study with military service, as that provision was removed before passage. Nevertheless, legal experts warned that the law could provide constitutional support for future attempts to preserve broad military exemptions and state benefits for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students. In other words, the purpose was not theological but tactical: to construct a legislative shield for the blanket military exemption ultra-Orthodox men have........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)