Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently asked his close advisers to prepare for the possibility that the Knesset could dissolve in the near future, raising the prospect that elections for the 26th Knesset would be held about four months earlier than scheduled, Ynet learned on Wednesday.
The next national election is currently set for Oct. 27, 2026. However, ynet has learned that Netanyahu has instructed aides to prepare for a scenario in which elections are brought forward, potentially to June. Netanyahu has also asked that a team be assembled to lead the next election campaign for his Likud party. Under such a timetable, party primaries to determine Likud’s candidate list would be held within a matter of months.
Publicly, Netanyahu continues to insist that his 37th government will complete its term. Senior ministers who have spoken with him in recent days say he has delivered a consistent message: the coalition will pass the next state budget and elections will be held on schedule.
In private conversations, Netanyahu has also expressed confidence that the controversial legislation granting exemptions from mandatory military service to ultra-Orthodox men will pass. But in closer consultations, political sources say he acknowledges the situation could unravel quickly. He has therefore instructed his inner circle to prepare for the possibility that the Knesset could dissolve early if the coalition fails to pass the draft law or the state budget.
“He tells everyone that elections will be held on time because he does not want discipline to erode or a sense that the government is at the end of its rope,” a senior government official said. “He does want to serve out the full term and does not want to lose even a single day in office, but in practice Likud is already preparing for the possibility that the Knesset will be forced to dissolve soon.”
Netanyahu is weighing options for a campaign team that would largely be based on his existing advisers, with additional circles of consultants expected to join.
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National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
(Photo: Gadi Kabalo)
Ministers who hear Netanyahu’s assurances that elections will be held as scheduled are publicly conveying a similar message. At the same time, they appear to be acting with an eye toward a possible campaign. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has advanced a reform of the dairy market and changes to taxation on overseas purchases. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has pushed the death penalty for terrorists to the top of his agenda, promoting it through an aggressive public campaign that has included the display of a noose pin.
The political maneuvering is rooted in rising friction with ultra-Orthodox parties over the military draft law, alongside growing frustration within Likud itself among lawmakers uneasy with the current exemption proposal under discussion in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
On Monday, the coalition was forced to remove legislation from the parliamentary agenda after ultra-Orthodox parties again made clear they would not support it. Political officials said the stalemate has only intensified, fueled by reports of arrests of draft-evading ultra-Orthodox youths.
Those developments, the officials said, have created mounting pressure within the coalition. While none of the coalition partners want early elections, they warned that dissolution of the Knesset may become unavoidable if the impasse continues.