Haredi Parties Reject Draft Exemption Bill — September 2026 Elections Now Widely Expected

Israel's governing coalition moved closer to collapse on May 27, 2026 as the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) political parties — United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas — definitively rejected the latest compromise version of the military draft exemption bill that would have allowed Haredi men to continue avoiding conscription into the IDF. The Knesset dissolution bill had already passed a preliminary reading with 110 out of 120 votes on approximately May 20, reflecting the breadth of the governing coalition's fractures. UTJ's spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando had ordered party MKs to support dissolution after Prime Minister Netanyahu froze the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption bill in April under US pressure, which Haredi leaders viewed as a fundamental betrayal of coalition agreements. Opposition leader Yair Lapid and former PM Naftali Bennett (whose parties were in merger talks) welcomed the development as clearing the path for a center-right electoral alternative. Israeli analysts widely projected September or October 2026 elections as the most likely timeline. Netanyahu faced pressure from his far-right coalition partners (Smotrich, Ben-Gvir) to either accelerate elections or pursue a national emergency government that would sideline Haredi parties. The ICC warrant developments against several coalition members had added to the cabinet's political crisis.