Following a lengthy Knesset debate, lawmakers early Tuesday voted 106-0 in favor of the first reading of a coalition bill to dissolve the Knesset, potentially triggering early elections.

The bill, which must pass three readings in the plenum to pass into law, was approved for its first reading in the Knesset House Committee on Monday morning and immediately referred to the plenum for a vote.

Due to internal coalition disagreements, committee chairman and coalition whip Ofir Katz advanced the bill without specifying a date for elections, stating that it would only be inserted into the legislation prior to its final two readings. In the meantime, Katz only said that the range of dates will be somewhere between September 8 and October 20.

“We completed four years [in office]… we practically made it to the end,” Katz said in a statement after the vote hailing the coalition’s time in power.

Elections must be held within five months of the law’s passing, which would mean mid- to late-October at the latest. The Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties reportedly favor an election date in early September during the run-up to the high holidays. Elections must, in any case, be held by October 27.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly urged the ultra-Orthodox parties not to force early elections in September, warning in private conversations that such a timeline would “endanger” the right-wing bloc’s chances of winning.

Ultra-Orthodox revolt

The decision to advance the bill came after the seven-strong United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party announced last month that it would seek to dissolve the Knesset and trigger early elections, citing the coalition’s failure to pass a law enshrining the decades-old exemption of Haredi yeshiva students from military service.

UTJ made its move after Netanyahu told Haredi MKs that the coalition currently doesn’t have the votes to pass the draft exemption legislation, and reportedly asked them to agree to shelve the bill until after the elections.

The legislation — which would ostensibly increase military conscription in the Haredi community, but ultimately enable continued exemptions for full-time yeshiva students — is widely seen as legally dubious and laden with loopholes. It has generated intense resistance even among members of Netanyahu’s coalition and was briefly taken off........

© The Times of Israel