Israel Heads for 5th Election in 3 Years After Government Collapses, Officials Say
Source: New York Times
JERUSALEM Israels governing coalition will vote to dissolve Parliament within the next week, bringing down the government and sending the country to a fifth election in three years, the prime ministers office and two coalition officials said on Monday. The decision throws a political lifeline to Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister who left office last June upon the formation of the current government, and whose party is currently leading in the polls. It follows weeks of paralysis caused by the defection of two right-wing government lawmakers and frequent rebellions by three others, removing the coalitions majority in Parliament and making it hard to govern.
Expected to be held in the fall, the election will be Israels fifth since April 2019. It comes at an already tense time for the country, after a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis put pressure on the government, and amid an escalation in a shadow war between Israel and Iran. The terms of the current coalition agreement dictate that in the event that right-wing defections prompt early elections, Yair Lapid, the foreign minister and a centrist former broadcaster, would take over as interim prime minister while Prime Minister Naftali Bennett would step aside. If that agreement is honored, Mr. Lapid will lead the government for at least several months, through the election campaign and the protracted coalition negotiations likely to follow.
The government was fragile to begin with because of the ideological incompatibility of its eight constituent parties a fractious alliance of right-wing, left-wing, secular, religious and Arab groups that joined forces only last June after four inconclusive elections in two years had left Israel without a state budget or a functional government. The coalition was cohesive enough to pass a new budget, Israels first in more than three years; make key administrative appointments; and deepen Israels emerging relationships with key Arab states. But its members clashed regularly over the rights of Israels Arab minority, the relationship between religion and state, and settlement policy in the occupied West Bank clashes that ultimately led two key members to defect, and others to vote against government bills.
The coalitions members agreed to team up last year only because of a shared desire to oust Mr. Netanyahu, the right-wing former prime minister. Mr. Netanyahus refusal to resign despite standing trial for corruption had alienated many of his natural allies on the right, leading some of them to ally with their ideological opponents to remove him from office. The new election gives another chance to Mr. Netanyahu, allowing him another attempt to win enough votes to form his own majority coalition. But his path back to power is far from clear.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/20/world/middleeast/israel-election-government-collapse.html
montanacowboy
(6,080 posts)these fuckers never pay the piper, I am so sick and tired of it
SoCalDavidS
(9,998 posts)Too Afraid To Hold Their Criminal Leaders Accountable.
progree
(10,892 posts)allowing him another attempt to win enough votes to form his own majority coalition"
Ughh.
I thought it was just another pain-in-the-a election until I read that.
Lonestarblue
(9,958 posts)Think about all the corrupt leaders heading countries now: Johnson in the UK (maybe not corrupt money wise but Brexit has been a nightmare), Orban in Hungary, Erdogan in Turkey, Putin in Russia, Lukashenko in Belarus, certainly Trump when he was president, MBS in Saudi Arabia, and a pantheon of corrupt leaders in South America and Latin America. People know these leaders are corrupt, yet they somehow stay in power. Im waiting for the arc of justice to swing back our way. Its way overdue.
Samrob
(4,298 posts)mpcamb
(2,868 posts)Rhiannon12866
(204,773 posts)IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)Seeking Serenity
(2,840 posts)Response to Seeking Serenity (Reply #10)
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Xolodno
(6,384 posts)...you should keep church and state separate and apply rights to everyone equally.
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