Israel officially entered election season early Friday morning after the Knesset voted to dissolve itself, ending the 25th Knesset following hours of political turbulence and last-minute efforts by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to secure the necessary votes.
The overnight session saw coalition leaders working to assemble a required majority, with several coalition members initially absent and unreachable. Netanyahu and senior coalition officials became personally involved in locating lawmakers to ensure passage of the dissolution measure. MKs Galit Distel Atbaryan and Avi Maoz were summoned late at night and arrived to cast votes in favor of dissolving the legislature, providing the crucial 61st vote needed.
The coalition also had to resolve a dispute with Shas. Earlier in the evening, Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri had walked out of the plenum along with his party's lawmakers after learning that opposition parties would not support legislation to increase public funding for political parties. Deri said, "I will teach the opposition a lesson. They are always saying the Chareidim only want money. We don't need this money." He added, "Shas is the most organized party and has no debts. They want this law more than we do, but they want us to pass it, take all the criticism, and then they will receive the money. That is not going to happen."
After direct appeals from Prime Minister Netanyahu, Shas ultimately agreed to support dissolving the Knesset. Israel's political system has now officially entered the next election campaign, which will conclude with the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset.