Coalition faces challenges as Knesset reconvenes for summer session

3 no-confidence votes defeated on first day, majority of MKs sign statement against ICC arrests

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The Knesset reconvened on Monday, following a six-week recess, which was controversial due to the ongoing Gaza War and the unresolved hostage situation.

The coalition government faces several challenges, including an apparent rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, both of the Likud party over the subject of the “day after” in Gaza.

Gallant had called on Netanyahu to make a decision and said: “Indecision, is in essence, a decision – this leads to a dangerous course, which promotes the idea of Israeli military and civilian governance in Gaza.” Gallant warned that such a situation could ensnare Israel in a difficult situation for years to come.

Before the Knesset resumed, several coalition ministers called on Netanyahu to dismiss Gallant.

Then, just a few days later, Benny Gantz, who joined the War Cabinet shortly after the start of the Gaza War in order to ensure stability during the military campaign, threatened to leave the government by June 8 if Netanyahu did not formulate a plan for Gaza.

Recent polls have shown that Gantz’s National Unity party still holds a lead over the Likud, with growing dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s performance during the war.

Another challenge facing the coalition in the coming days is the need to legislate the drafting of ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens.

Following a ruling by the High Court of Justice that the government can no longer subsidize ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who are eligible to serve in Israel Defense Forces, the government is under pressure to pass a new law to deal with the situation.

However, the ultra-Orthodox parties of Shas and United Torah Judaism are not in favor of any mandatory draft, while most of the rest of the coalition, and much of the opposition, favors a universal draft law.

Netanyahu faces internal opposition within his own party over the Draft Law.

As promised, the opposition Labor party submitted a vote of no-confidence in the government, which it said had “failed miserably” at achieving the war goals of toppling Hamas, returning the hostages, and returning evacuees to their homes.

Two other no-confidence votes were also brought by the opposition Yesh Atid party, led by Yair Lapid, and the Arab Hadash-Ta’al. In calling for a no-confidence vote, Lapid said, “I read the letter that Likud members are now signing against the decree from The Hague to file an arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister. Bring it, we will sign it. It will be both a coalition and opposition document. But where is the letter from all Likud members saying that we will not rest until all the abductees return home? Where is the letter from all Likud members who say that we will return the residents of the north by the first of September?”

Thousands of protesters demonstrated outside the Knesset’s first summer session meeting, protesting against Netanyahu and demanding action regarding the hostages and the evacuees.

The Likud party brought a letter before the Knesset, where 106 Members of Knesset (MKs) from the coalition and opposition signed a statement against the decision of the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague calling for arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The only MKs who did not sign the statement were from Labor, Ra’am, and Hadash Ta’al.

"The State of Israel is in the midst of a just war against a criminal terrorist organization," the statement read. "The IDF is the most moral army in the world. Our heroic soldiers fight with unsurpassed courage and morality, in accordance with international law, as no other army has ever done."

"The scandalous comparison of the prosecutor in The Hague between the leaders of Israel and the leaders of the terrorist organization Hamas is an indelible historical crime and a clear manifestation of anti-Semitism. We reject it with disgust. 80 years after the Holocaust, no one will tie the hands of the Jewish state to defend itself."