{"id":23642,"date":"2022-06-20T21:05:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T21:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=23642"},"modified":"2022-06-20T21:05:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T21:05:07","slug":"israel-heading-to-polls-as-coalition-moves-to-dissolve-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/06\/20\/israel-heading-to-polls-as-coalition-moves-to-dissolve-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel heading to polls as coalition moves to dissolve parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Israel is set to hold a fifth general election in under four years, after its fractured coalition government concluded it could not survive.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In a major political development, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will switch places with Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid under an existing deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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An election could take place in late October, commentators say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The former prime minister and current opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to return to office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Monday’s announcement comes after weeks of speculation that the coalition – the most diverse in Israel’s history – was on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It risked losing an important vote next week after a member of Mr Bennett’s own right-wing Yamina party quit the coalition, leaving it a minority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Bennett said he had made the “right decision” in the interests of Israel’s security, as dissolving the Knesset extended temporary laws which were put in jeopardy by the vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The coalition had been teetering for weeks. Last week, Yamina MK Nir Orbach resigned from it, saying the government had failed in its main mission “of lifting [Israelis’] spirits” – a move which left it with only 59 seats. Others had also threatened to rebel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The announcement on Monday night caught members of the government by surprise. The Times of Israel quoted sources as saying neither the defence nor interior ministers knew about the decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The bill to dissolve the Knesset will go to a vote next week. If it passes, as expected, Mr Bennett will make way for centrist Yair Lapid to become interim prime minister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The two men formed the coalition just over a year ago after a series of inconclusive elections, ousting Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The coalition was stitched together from eight parties from across the political spectrum, united only by the desire to make it impossible for Mr Netanyahu to form a government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Netanyahu, who is currently standing trial on corruption charges which he denies, said it was “great news for millions of Israeli citizens”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“This government is going home,” he said, adding that he would form “a wide, national government” headed by his Likud party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last week, the results of an Israel Channel 12 TV poll indicated that a bloc led by Mr Netanyahu would win most seats in a fresh election, though still two short of a majority.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel is set to hold a fifth general election in under four years, after its fractured coalition government concluded it could not survive. In a major political development, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will switch places with Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid under an existing deal. An election could take place in late October, commentators say. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":23643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[11941,9194,11555,9233,1384,911,2264,3095,5179,12329,11743,12309,9683,6864,7029,1198,3174,1511,6421,13301,5655,11581,3954,594,7027],"class_list":["post-23642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-bill","tag-charges","tag-citizens","tag-collapse","tag-corruption","tag-election","tag-government","tag-israel","tag-knesset","tag-laws","tag-majority","tag-men","tag-millions","tag-ministers","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-parliament","tag-prime-minister","tag-prime-minister-israeli-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-prime-minister-naftali-bennett","tag-results","tag-security","tag-trial","tag-will","tag-who","tag-yair-lapid"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}