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Israel's Former President Benjamin Netanyahu Speaks During Debate on Dissolving Parliament
Photo: Abir Sultan/EPA
Israel is in a government crisis.
Now MPs have voted to dissolve Parliament, paving the way for early elections.
They are to take place on November 1, as the members of the Knesset decided shortly before a formal decision to dissolve parliament.
It will be Israel's fifth election in less than four years.
Actually, Parliament should already decide on its dissolution on Wednesday.
According to media reports, the decision was postponed due to various changes in the law.
According to the agreement of the previous coalition, Foreign Minister Jair Lapid is to lead the interim government.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett resigns.
He had also announced on Wednesday that he would no longer stand in the new election.
Lapid and Bennett agreed to a new election after just about a year in office, after the differences in their multi-party coalition of a wide political spectrum from right to left could no longer be bridged and the narrow majority in parliament was lost.
The governing alliance was forged in June 2021 from far-right parties as well as parties from the centre, the left and an Arab faction.
In particular, the coalition shared the desire to replace Benjamin Netanyahu from the national-conservative Likud bloc as prime minister after twelve years.
Now the eight-party government has failed.
Bennett and Lapid announced last week that they had exhausted all options to stabilize their coalition.
Among other things, the dispute triggered a vote on extending a law that grants settlers in the occupied West Bank the same rights as citizens in the rest of Israeli territory.
asc/afp/Reuters
