The Prime Minister's Office denied Interior Minister Moshe Arbel's request on Sunday to discuss the municipal elections in Sunday's government meeting.
Arbel, who has insisted for weeks that the elections should go ahead on January 30 as planned, made the request after receiving a letter from IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi detailing the challenges of holding the elections on their planned date.
Halevi explained in his letter that he was not taking a stand either way but that there would be challenges to ensuring that all the soldiers fighting in Gaza can fulfill their rights to vote and be elected.
IDF would have to prepare for soldiers to vote outside Israel
Due to security and logistical needs, Halevi explained that the IDF would have to prepare for soldiers to vote outside of Israel's borders and that solutions would have to be found for soldiers who cannot carry the necessary ID for voting because of their jobs' requirements.
He added that the process for obtaining the soldiers' votes will take eight days as opposed to 72 hours because of the complexity of the situation.
Regarding candidates, Halevi wrote that there are currently 3,983 serving in reserves, 2,346 of whom are not volunteers. Among these numbers are 70 reserve soldiers who are mayoral or local council head candidates.
Halevi stressed that if the elections went ahead on January 30, the IDF would release whichever candidates it could but that some of them would not be able to leave service because they are operationally essential.
After receiving the letter on Saturday night, Arbel asked to discuss the matter in Sunday's government meeting but was denied by the PMO who said that as the subject was sensitive, they needed more time to prepare for it to be discussed formally.
Smotrich vocal about wanting elections postponed
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has been particularly vocal about wanting the elections to be postponed said that the reserves and the "unity" couldn't be harmed right now.
"It's not too late to fix this," he said. "We have to postpone the municipal elections until after the war, and I hope that the government will make that decision soon."
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir commented on the letter, calling for the elections to be pushed off.
"While our forces are working in Gaza, and in light of the fact that more than 3,000 reserves are running, now is not the time for elections," he said. "The people of Israel need all their soldiers in Gaza without any political concerns. I will work in the next government meeting to postpone the elections, and I sincerely hope the government decides to do that."
The elections, which were supposed to be held at the end of October, have already been delayed once due to the Swords of Iron war with a clause allowing them to be pushed off again to February 27.