Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering holding snap elections in three months' time, against the backdrop of the ex-military advocate-general's Sde Teiman video leak affair, KAN News reported on Tuesday evening.
According to the report, some of Netanyahu's confidantes have recommended launching an election campaign in internal discussions led by the prime minister, arguing that recent scandals involving the IDF's former chief lawyer, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, have ripened the political environment to provide "the best result for the Likud party."
Tomer-Yerushalmi was detained earlier this week amid ongoing investigations into the alleged leak of IDF soldiers abusing Palestinian prisoners at the Sde Teiman base, and after she had disappeared on Sunday night, prompting widespread searches by Israeli authorities.
KAN's report further notes that, in the view of those in Netanyahu's inner circle, the MAG's case could be tied to the prime minister's wider campaign against Israel's judicial system.
While Netanyahu reportedly remained in deliberations over the move, KAN reported that one aspect potentially holding such a move would be Netanyahu's hope that a move to block his corruption trial could be achieved during his government's tenure, which is set to conclude by October 2026 at the latest.
Netanyahu expected to delay haredi draft bill
Netanyahu is also expected to continue delaying a bill on the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli military until a decision is made, the report added. On Sunday, all meetings on the controversial conscription bill were canceled from the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s agenda.
“We were told by the Prime Minister’s Office to wait, that there’s no green light yet to distribute it,” committee head and Likud MK Boaz Bismuth’s office told The Jerusalem Post.
The Prime Minister's Office stated that Netanyahu was not considering a snap election in response to the report given to KAN News.
Keshet Neev contributed to this report.