From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Coalition, lacking majority, postpones vote to extend call-up of IDF reservists
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
A vote to extend emergency call-up orders for reservists in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has been postponed once more after the coalition failed to secure a majority, according to Hebrew media reports.
“We just prevented in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee an increase in the burden on reservists by blocking the proposal to extend emergency call-up orders for them,” says Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, the Yesh Atid chair, in a statement. “Once again, the coalition has no majority. Israel has a non-functioning and illegitimate minority government.”
Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben Ari adds: “They want to draft 300,000 reservists to retake Gaza, but they couldn’t find enough MKs to secure a majority in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee vote, so the vote was canceled.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition currently has 60 members, short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, after the departure of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party and MK Avi Maoz last month.
The vote is expected to be postponed until next week, with the opposition promising near-complete attendance, while coalition absences, including recently ousted chair MK Yuli Edelstein, continue to hamper proceedings, according to Hebrew media reports.
The coalition failed in a similar vote in May before subsequently pushing it through.
The Times of Israel Community.