Hope for Netanyahu as Israel calls fifth election in three years

ISRAEL’S weakened coalition government decided yesterday to dissolve parliament and call a new election – the country’s fifth in three years.

The Israeli government, a fragile alliance of ideologically disparate players whose only shared interest was removing Benjamin Netanyahu from power, will vote to dissolve parliament within the next week, throwing the former long-standing premier a political lifeline for re-election.

The vote, expected this autumn, could bring about the return of a nationalist religious government or another prolonged period of political gridlock.

The previous four elections, which focused on Mr Netanyahu’s fitness to rule while on trial for corruption charges, ended in deadlock.

The announcement yesterday came amid a row over whether a Bill that would stop lawmakers who have been charged with serious crimes from becoming prime minister should be put forward.

The fragile coalition has been paralysed and threatened with collapse for several weeks after Naftali Bennett, the current prime minister, lost his majority in parliament owing to the defection of two lawmakers and a series of rebellions by other key members.

Yesterday, Mr Bennett and Yair Lapid, the foreign affairs minister, announced that the vote will be presented to the Knesset next week and, if passed, Mr Lapid will become the interim prime minister with Mr Bennett remaining in control of the escalating Iranian shadow war.

Mr Bennett said it wasn’t easy to disband the government, but he called it “the right decision for Israel”.

In a joint statement, Mr Bennett and Mr Lapid announced that they had “exhausted all options to stabilise” their coalition, which has faced a series of clashes over the rights of Israel’s Arab minority and a settlement policy in the occupied West Bank.

Mr Netanyahu, formerly Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and now leader of the opposition, had rallied his party to vote down the usually uncontroversial settler Bill in an attempt to hasten the demise of the collapsing alliance.

The elections, which will likely take place on Oct 25, give hope to Mr Netanyahu that he and his Right-wing Likud Party can reclaim power.

‘It was not an easy call to disband the government, but it is the right decision for Israel’