Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have agreed to dissolve parliament, triggering a new election.
The Knesset is expected to enact the special bill to dissolve itself in the coming days and set a date for the polls. This means Lapid will take over as prime minister of a transition government as part of a special rotating premiership agreement. That deal was originally designed to have both Lapid and Bennett serve an equal amount of time throughout the government's term under Israel's amended law Basic Law: Government.
In a nationally televised news conference, Bennett said it wasn't easy for him to disband the government, but he called it "the right decision for Israel."
The fragile coalition government, which includes parties from across the political spectrum, lost its majority earlier this year and has faced rebellions from different lawmakers in recent weeks.
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A vote will be held in parliament next week, after which Lapid will take over the premiership. The next elections, Israel's fifth in three years, are expected to take place in the fall, most likely on Oct. 25.
Bennett listed a series of accomplishments and promised an "orderly" transition. Lapid thanked Bennett for putting the country ahead of his personal interests. "Even if we're going to elections in a few months, our challenges as a state cannot wait," Lapid said. Bennett said this was the "toughest" political decision he has ever had to make. He vowed to work with Lapid in an orderly fashion as he moves into his new role and said, "I will provide assistance as long as I am needed, and I will do whatever I can to help him succeed [by being reelected]."
Bennett's government was sworn in last June after four deadlocked elections. With a razor-thin parliamentary majority and divided on major policy issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and state and religion issues, the eight-faction alliance began to fracture when a handful of members abandoned the coalition.
A poll held last week by Channel 12 News found that 56% of Israelis believe that Bennett's government should not "continue to exist," and only 35% still supported it.
The immediate cause for Bennett's decision was the looming expiration of laws that grant Israeli citizens beyond the Green Line the same rights as Israelis elsewhere.
Parliament was to vote to extend the laws earlier this month. But the hard-line opposition, composed heavily of settler supporters, paradoxically voted against the bill in order to embarrass the government. Dovish members of the coalition who normally oppose the settlements voted in favor of the bill in hopes of keeping the government afloat.
By dissolving parliament, the laws remain in effect. Bennett, a former settler leader, said that if he had allowed the laws to expire, there would have been "grave security perils and constitutional chaos." Bennett said Monday, "I couldn't let that happen."
The dissolution threatened to overshadow a visit scheduled by President Joe Biden scheduled for next month. The US Embassy said it assumed that the visit would take place as planned.
Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, who was unseated as prime minister just over a year ago when the Lapid-Bennett government was sworn in, described the imminent dissolution of parliament as "great tidings" for millions of Israelis, and he said he would form "a broad nationalist government headed by Likud" after the upcoming elections.
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