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TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Jair Lapid announced on Monday that they plan to dissolve the Knesset next week, preparing the stage for a fifth round of the general election in less than four years.
If the vote to dissolve parliament passes, Lapid will become interim prime minister, although Bennett will remain in charge of the Iranian portfolio, as set out in their power-sharing agreement. The election is likely to take place on October 25, according to Israeli media.
“We have a country that needs to be governed,” Bennett said in a televised joint statement with Lapid, just as the lights in the press room went out for a moment.
“How symbolic,” Lapid said.
Bennett and Lapid said earlier that they had done so “Exhausted opportunities to stabilize” their coalition, made up of an ideological kaleidoscope of parties – including left-wing peacekeepers, right-wing supporters of Jewish settlers and, for the first time in Israel’s history, an Arab Islamist party – united a year ago to oust the then prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu.
Bennett listed the government’s achievements, including the success of “preventing the signing of a new nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers,” without damaging relations with the United States.
Since the nuclear talks froze in March, Iran has sought to secure “a significant amount of enriched uranium,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier this month. Under the original agreement, Iran agreed to impose sharp restrictions on the quantity and quality of enriched uranium it possesses.
For weeks, Israel’s ruling coalition has been on the verge of collapse as three members, including two from Bennett Yamina’s right-wing party, deserted, depriving the government of its majority and its ability to pass legislation.
To speed up the coalition’s disintegration earlier this month, Netanyahu – the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history – has gathered his party and other usually pro-populist opposition lawmakers to vote against a controversial measure that allows civil law to be enforced. to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Bennett said in a television statement that the expiration of the West Bank law would cause “damage to Israel’s security and subsequent chaos that I cannot allow.”
The expected dissolution of the Knesset next week means an automatic renewal of the law.
“This is good news for millions of Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu said in a video on Twitter. “A government that will return the national pride of the citizens of Israel so that you can walk the streets with your heads held high.
“What we need to do today is go back to the concept of Israeli unity. To prevent the dark forces from tearing us apart from within, “Lapid said in a televised statement, referring to the division that has intensified during Netanyahu’s 12-year term.
The development comes a week after President Biden announced plans to visit Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia on July 14. Biden’s visit will go according to plan, according to Israeli media, which reported that he will meet with Lapid.
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