The Israeli parliament opened its summer session on Monday after a month-long recess that paused a challenging period for the coalition.
The session officially opened at 1 p.m., with the first plenum assembly scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
The summer session, which will run through July 27, is expected to be stormy at both the political and the public levels, with drafting or exempting from IDF service ultra-Orthodox men potentially the most disruptive issue for the governing coalition.
The Draft Bill, which is expected to regulate exemptions of haredi yeshivah students from service, is likely to be debated as the war triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacres continues.
The Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, has issued an order giving the government until June 24 to explain its decision to hold off on drafting young ultra-Orthodox men into the military.
The two ultra-Orthodox parties—United Torah Judaism and Shas—which together provide 16 of the coalition’s lawmakers, are demanding that the government to settle the matter by anchoring the exemptions in law.
However, the Kikar HaShabbat haredi website on Monday quoted a senior coalition member saying that due to the tens of thousands of additional men called up this week for IDF reserve duty, ahead of an expansion of the war against terrorists in the Gaza Strip, the legislation must be postponed “for an additional period.”
The unnamed source was cited as saying that due to the sensitivity of the issue at the present time, passing the bill now would have been met with public fury.
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee is slated to convene later on Monday to deliberate the so-called “NGOs Law” put forward by Likud lawmaker Ariel Kallner.
The legislation proposes an 80% tax on donations given to Israeli nonprofits by foreign entities, except organizations exempted by the finance minister, according to Kikar HaShabbat.
Moreover, the bill would prohibit courts from hearing petitions submitted by a body whose majority of funding comes from foreign states, the report added. This legislation has the potential to significantly reduce the activity of left-leaning NGOs whose funding comes mostly from the European Union and the United Nations.
Dismissing the attorney-general
Another challenge to the coalition will be to proceed with procedures to dismiss Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara.
In March, Justice Minister Yariv Levin wrote to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has lost confidence in Baharav-Miara “in light of her inappropriate conduct and substantial and prolonged differences of opinion between her and the government, creating a situation preventing effective cooperation.”
Under Israeli law, Baharav-Miara does not work for the prime minister, as opposed to in the United States, where the attorney general is an agent of the executive branch. Netanyahu has often clashed with Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in 2022.
The coalition is moreover set to appoint a new director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), a new Civil Service commissioner and a commissioner for complaints against judges.
The ‘Ratings Law’
The government will also look to implement its proposal to separate the Police Internal Investigations Department from the State Attorney’s Office.
Another legislative proposal to look out for is the so-called “Ratings Law,” sponsored by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of the Likud.
The bill would privatize the Kan Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, as well as modify the method for measuring television ratings.
However, Karhi reportedly demands the establishment of a new Knesset committee to prepare the bill, as fellow Likud member David Bitan, who chairs the parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee, opposes a large portion of the minister’s proposals.