The Israeli government is accelerating a package of seven legislative measures ahead of the Knesset’s automatic dissolution on 15 July, a move that opposition figures describe as an attempt to lock in coalition priorities before elections expected on 27 October. According to Israeli parliamentary sources, the bills are each tied to the demands of one or more parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, and their passage is seen by government officials as essential to maintaining political alliances going into the campaign. The legislative push has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leader Yair Lapid and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who argue the government is exploiting its final days in office to weaken independent institutions and entrench religious exemptions.

The most contentious proposal, a Basic Law on Torah study, would recognise long-term yeshiva students as performing meaningful national service, effectively exempting them from military conscription. Ultra-Orthodox parties have repeatedly threatened to collapse the government if the measure is not enacted. In parallel, the coalition is advancing a broadcasting reform that supporters present as a market-opening measure but which Israeli media watchdogs and opposition lawmakers condemn as a means of exerting political control over television, radio and streaming platforms. A further bill would strip the attorney general’s legal opinions of their binding status, a change that critics in the legal community say would remove an independent check on executive power. At the urging of religious parties, the government also seeks to repeal a previous administration’s reform that ended the rabbinate’s monopoly on kosher certification.

These legislative efforts unfold against a shifting electoral landscape. Polling data published by Israeli media in early July show Eisenkot’s newly formed Yashar party overtaking Likud for the first time, with one survey giving Yashar 22 seats to Likud’s 21 and another placing Yashar at 23 seats. The Netanyahu bloc is projected to hold 49 seats, while a Zionist opposition bloc that includes Yashar, the Together party and a new alliance led by Chili Tropper and Yoaz Hendel approaches a 61-seat majority. Within Likud, internal tensions have surfaced over Netanyahu’s reported plan to reserve up to ten slots on the party’s electoral list for his own appointees, a move that party officials, speaking to Israeli news agencies, have called a “political purge” and a sign of “hysteria” over the polls. Likud is also weighing whether to offer a reserved slot to Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich, whose faction risks falling below the electoral threshold.

Parliamentary committees continue to debate the bills, but heated disagreements—including within the coalition—make it uncertain whether all measures will pass before the term ends. The Knesset can extend its session by up to twelve days beyond the 15 July deadline to complete the legislative process, a procedural option that government whips are expected to use. Should the bills fail, their provisions would likely be revisited only after the October election, when the composition of the next government remains, according to Israeli political analysts, highly uncertain.