Overview
- The 25th Knesset voted to dissolve on Friday, July 17, formally setting national elections for October 27 and beginning the campaign period.
- In its final days the governing coalition passed a cluster of controversial laws including a Party Funding Law that unlocks state campaign money, measures to expand government control over broadcast regulation, and steps that limit the attorney general’s authority.
- The legislature also approved measures that shield many ultra‑Orthodox men from conscription and enshrined Torah study as a foundational value, actions that the IDF chief warned would worsen manpower shortfalls and that the High Court immediately began to block with temporary injunctions.
- Recent polls, led by a Channel 13 survey, show a surge for former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar and allied opposition lists and project a Jewish opposition bloc capable of winning about 61 seats without Arab parties, making post‑vote bargaining decisive.
- The Knesset’s completion of a full four‑year term, the first since 1988, closes a turbulent legislative period and sets up legal fights, military staffing pressure, and intense coalition negotiations that will shape who can form the next government.