In a dramatic overnight showdown that exposed the deep fractures within Israel’s ruling coalition, the Knesset narrowly voted down a motion to dissolve itself, temporarily sparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from political collapse and early elections. The high-stakes vote, held in the early hours of Thursday morning, ended 61–53, after days of intense negotiations, political blackmail, and religious brinkmanship over the explosive issue of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) military conscription.

At the heart of the crisis lies one of Israel’s most divisive and long-festering national dilemmas: should young ultra-Orthodox men, who claim full-time Torah study as their national service, continue to be exempt from the draft while the rest of the country fights a war on multiple fronts? The question has become impossible to ignore since the October 7 Hamas massacre and the ongoing war in Gaza, with the IDF increasingly reliant on reservists while thousands of eligible Haredi men remain shielded from service.

A Coalition Held Hostage by Haredi Demands

As tensions rose throughout Wednesday, it became clear that Netanyahu’s government was hanging by a thread. The Haredi factions — kingmakers in nearly every coalition — used the threat of government dissolution to extract as many concessions as possible. Degel Hatorah and Shas appeared to waver, dangling their votes while Agudat Yisrael, the hardline Hasidic faction, all but declared open rebellion.

🇮🇱🚨 61 against, 52 in favor: The proposal to dissolve the Knesset failed after agreements were reached with the ultra-Orthodox factions regarding legislation that would allow them to continue avoiding IDF conscription.

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) June 12, 2025

Despite receiving verbal assurances of a future conscription law favorable to their interests, Agudat Yisrael publicly blasted the lack of concrete proposals. “No written proposal has been submitted,” they declared, following the instruction of their Council of Torah Sages to vote in favor of dissolving the Knesset.

The result? A public Haredi schism. Two Agudat Yisrael MKs — Yaakov Tesler and Moshe Roth — voted with the opposition. But in a surprise twist, MK Israel Eichler defied his own faction and voted to keep the government alive. His rebellion — possibly influenced by internal rabbinic politics or Netanyahu’s late-night offers — handed Netanyahu a temporary reprieve.

JUST IN 🔴

Degel HaTorah Israel Party: “We’ve decided to delay the vote on dissolving the Knesset by a week” 👀

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 12, 2025

Last-Minute Deal or Last-Minute Deception?

Yuli Edelstein, chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, played the role of emergency mediator. Around 2:30 a.m., he declared, “We have reached agreements on the principles which will form the basis of the draft law.” But the announcement, while headline-worthy, was short on specifics.

What was revealed, however, set off alarms across the political spectrum. The proposed sanctions for Haredi draft evaders include travel bans, suspended driver’s licenses, blocked subsidies, and more — but only after a grace period of a year. Notably absent were prison time or criminal prosecution — a major concession to the Haredi leadership.

Critics charge that the agreement amounts to a paper tiger, designed to appease secular Israelis while functionally preserving the status quo. Sources suggest that, behind closed doors, Haredi parties were promised additional benefits, subsidies, and budget allocations to soften the blow of even these cosmetic sanctions — a payoff disguised as compromise.

How likely is an election in Israel? What are the motivations? What can Netanyahu try to do to stop it?

An explainer: https://t.co/dKEnH0pVpU

— Lahav Harkov 🎗️ (@LahavHarkov) June 11, 2025

Opposition Overplayed Its Hand

In a puzzling political miscalculation, opposition parties insisted on proceeding with the dispersal vote even after it became clear that the Haredim wouldn’t unanimously back them. That decision backfired spectacularly. By law, the opposition cannot table another motion to dissolve the Knesset for six months, giving Netanyahu a window to regroup — if his fractious coalition survives that long.

Meanwhile, many who support Netanyahu’s more nationalist coalition allies, including constituents of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism Party and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit Party, are reportedly furious. They see the concessions to Haredim as a betrayal of the values of shared sacrifice, especially while thousands of their supporters and families serve on the front lines.

Motion to dissolve the Knesset & call early elections

Ayes: 53
Nays: 61

The Netanyahu government lives on. https://t.co/dp1TmkJDeQ

— Israel Elects (@israel_elects) June 12, 2025

Coalition on Life Support

The overnight political marathon featured a revolving door of negotiators, including:

• Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs

• Coalition Whip MK Ofir Katz

• Shas powerbroker Ariel Attias

• MKs from Degel Hatorah and Shas

• Reservist advocacy groups

• Likud MK Dan Illouz, a staunch opponent of Haredi exemptions

The closed-door meetings dragged on for hours, with growing frustration from reservist representatives demanding full equality in military obligations — and a government response stronger than polite excuses wrapped in rabbinic diplomacy.

Overwhelmingly Israelis do not support Haredi exemption from the military. pic.twitter.com/mVCxeBd4WO

— Gilad 🇮🇱 🎗️ (@gilad73) June 11, 2025

A Powder Keg Deferred, Not Defused

While Netanyahu lives to fight another day, the underlying crisis is nowhere near resolved. The tentative “principles” around a future draft law are ambiguous and divisive. The Haredi street remains volatile, and unless religious leaders can point to real gains, protests and backlash within their communities are almost certain.

Even more dangerous is the simmering resentment among Israel’s secular and religious-Zionist populations, many of whom view the continued exemptions as a betrayal of national unity in wartime.

The next explosion — political or societal — is not a question of if, but when.