Israel’s eight-party government plans to dissolve parliament and hold new elections. The coalition wants to present a corresponding draft law next week, as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday evening.
The Israeli government coalition wants to dissolve parliament and thus initiate new elections. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Jair Lapid announced on Monday that they would introduce a corresponding bill into the Knesset next week. All “attempts to stabilize the coalition” had been “exhausted,” it said. Until a new government is sworn in, the current foreign minister, Jair Lapid, is to take over the office of prime minister.
In June 2021, Bennett and Lapid agreed on the historic formation of a coalition that included parties from all political camps. Long-term Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously been in power for twelve years. At that time, Bennett and Lapid decided on a rotation principle, according to which the two wanted to take turns at the head of government.
Most recently, in April, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians put the coalition to the test. After clashes around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Arab Raam party threatened to withdraw from the coalition if the government continued its crackdown on Palestinian demonstrators.
