Coalition before the end: Israel’s government wants to pave the way for new elections

coalition before the end
Israel’s government wants to pave the way for new elections

Israel is back in political crisis mode: the government wants to dissolve parliament a good year after taking office, paving the way for new elections.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at a press conference in Jerusalem that the eight-party coalition wants the Knesset to vote on the project next week. This means that another election is due in Israel – the fifth in three and a half years.

Until a new government is sworn in, Bennett wants the current foreign minister, Jair Lapid, to take over the office of prime minister. According to media reports, the election could take place at the end of October.

Bennett cited the failure of a parliamentary vote on the continued application of Israeli law to Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories as the main reason for the decision. The eight-party coalition was unable to secure a majority for the vote. The mostly right-wing opposition voted against it for strategic reasons, despite supporting the law in principle. So she wanted to put pressure on the government.

The dissolution of parliament means that Israeli law will continue to apply to the settlers for the time being. Otherwise, the regulation, which has existed since 1967 but has to be renewed every five years, would have expired at the end of June. Ending the scheme would mean criminal Israelis could flee to the West Bank without fear of prosecution, media warned. There would also be massive problems for settlers with regard to taxes and health insurance.

No more majority in the Knesset

Bennett’s government alliance has been shaky for a long time. In April, the multi-party coalition lost its razor-thin majority of 61 out of 120 seats because an MP left the alliance. A week ago, another member of Bennett’s far-right Jamina party announced his departure from the coalition. That would put Bennett’s coalition in a minority of 59 to 61 seats in the Knesset. The opposition around the still influential ex-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded Bennett’s resignation.

According to media reports, Netanyahu celebrated the end of the coalition as “great news for millions of Israeli citizens”. The worst government in Israeli history would now come to an end. The opposition leader wants to soon form a government again under the leadership of his Likud party.

When it came together, the eight-party coalition was united above all in the desire to prevent Netanyahu’s return to power. He had previously been prime minister for more than a decade. However, Netanyahu is extremely controversial in the country: The ex-prime minister has to answer to three corruption cases in court. According to polls, his party could become the strongest force again.

“Together we got Israel out of the crisis”

The government has improved the political climate in the country, Bennett said, according to Israeli media. “We formed a good government and got Israel out of the crisis together.” Under the leadership of the coalition, parliament was able to pass a budget for the first time in years. Netanyahu’s government had previously failed to agree on a budget.

With a few exceptions, the coalition, which has operated relatively harmoniously, has been in office since June 13 last year. At that time, a permanent political crisis in Israel came to an end with four elections within two years. The alliance was supported by parties from the right to the left – including, for the first time, an Arab party. At the time, many doubted that the government could last longer, also because of the wafer-thin majority in parliament.

Observers fear that there could be not just one, but several elections in a row. Jonathan Rynhold, a professor of politics at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, recently warned that the chances of another stalemate in forming a government, as in previous elections, are very high.

dpa