Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition partners have successfully dismantled the state rather than submit to military conscription.
JERUSALEM — The air outside the Knesset on Monday smelled faintly of diesel exhaust and crushed pine needles as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition began the familiar bureaucratic process of dismantling the state.
Inside the parliament cafeteria, where a lukewarm urn of cardamom coffee sat largely ignored by passing aides, ultra-Orthodox lawmakers formally submitted their demand to dissolve the government. The maneuver successfully ensures that the Haredi political factions will not be forced to serve in the military of the nation they are currently running.
The collapse is proceeding precisely on schedule for the Israeli political season. It follows a Supreme Court ruling that ordered an end to the decades-old military exemption for ultra-Orthodox seminary students, prompting the ruling coalition to determine that the most strategic administrative response was to simply cease existing.
We have fought tirelessly in these halls to ensure we never have to actually fight.
Netanyahu, navigating what has become a routine seasonal dissolution, was seen calmly sorting his desk files into boxes marked for temporary storage. The caretaker government will continue issuing binding combat deployment orders to the secular population while its own architects finalize their autumn campaign flyers.