Published: 21 June 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Yair Lapid will become Prime Minister as the Coalition admits defeat and agrees to dissolve the Knesset, sending Israel to its fifth election in three years
In a political earthquake, Coalition leaders Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have admitted efforts to salvage the government have been ‘exhausted’.
Israel faces new elections, probably on 25 October.
Under the Coalition agreement, Lapid will become caretaker prime minister, until the election.
The leaders will make a televised statement today, announcing the Government will itself next week bring the Bill to dissolve the Knesset which the Opposition had been in the process of forcing.
The historic Coalition, barely a year old, put an end to 12 years of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It includes centrist and left parties, Bennett’s right-wing Yamina party, and the first Arab party to be part of an Israeli government.
It failed after defections from both wings. On the right, Yamina MKs Nir Orbach and Idit Stillman have swapped allegiances to Netanyahu’s Likud Party. On the left, Ra’am’s Ghaniam and Meretz’s Rinawie Zoabi voted against the government on the settlement bill, precipitating the current crisis.
Current polls suggest Netanyahu is in front to form the next government.
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Coalition heads announce vote to dissolve Knesset next week, Lapid to be interim PM (Haaretz)
Photo: Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (R) and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (L) at the cabinet meeting last week
