The coalition is launching a legislative blitz in a race to advance controversial judicial and media overhaul bills before the expected proceedings to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections begin next week. The moves are prompting accusations from opposition lawmakers and legal advisers that the coalition is bypassing legal oversight and parliamentary procedure to rush through major constitutional changes.

Two of the coalition’s most controversial pieces of legislation being debated this week are the bill to split the role of the attorney general at the Knesset Constitution Committee and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s media overhaul legislation, being debated by a special committee.

The two committees are conducting marathon deliberations from Sunday through Tuesday, with the hope of advancing legislation to the plenum next week before a preliminary vote to dissolve the Knesset is expected to be held.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition submitted legislation on Wednesday to dissolve parliament and trigger elections — competing with opposition parties that had submitted their own bills for dissolution — to control the process and timing of elections. They came a day after the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah faction announced it would back dissolving the Knesset due to the coalition’s failure to pass a draft exemption law for yeshiva students.

A preliminary vote on the legislation could take place as early as Monday, and then it could be swiftly rushed through the legislative process. Elections must be held within five months of the vote passing, with Haredi parties reportedly favoring an election date in early September. Elections must, in any case, be held by October 27.

Passing just a preliminary reading of the dissolution bill may still complicate the coalition’s legislative agenda for the remainder of the Knesset term, causing a sense of urgency to pass as much legislation as quickly as possible.

The tensions surrounding the coalition’s legislative push erupted into open confrontation Sunday in the Knesset special committee debating Karhi’s sweeping media overhaul bill, where opposition lawmakers and the committee’s legal advisers accused coalition lawmakers of trying to push major last-minute revisions through without adequate legal review.

The legislation, which requires two more votes before it can be passed into law, would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites and other........

© The Times of Israel