Israel dissolves Knesset, calls for new elections Nov. 1

Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, on Thursday voted to immediately dissolve itself triggering new elections on November 1. It will be a record fifth election in three-and-a-half years.

A strange coalition, including an Islamist party joining seven others from the right, center and left, had earlier united to form the government in ann effort to defeat then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  While the tactic worked, ending Netanyahu’s record reign, it was almost impossible to pass legislation among the fighting factions.

Thursday’s 92–0 vote brings Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s governing coalition to an end making him the shortest-lived administration in the country’s history.

Fulfilling an agreement between the two parties when the coalition was formed, Bennett, who announced on Wednesday that he will not run in the election, will become alternate prime minister after Yair Lapid becomes the premier.

“The State of Israel is the love of my life. Serving it is my calling,” he said in a televised farewell speech.

The dissolution of the Knesset comes with increased tension from the Biden administration which is attempting to revive the Iran Nuclear Agreement. Israelis and foreign policy experts believe that policy eventually allows the terrorist state to build nuclear weapons.  The Biden administration has also been seen as working against the goals established by the Trump administration which negotiated four successful peace accords between Israel and Arab nations – a record for any American president.

The election in November now paves the way for Netanyahu to return to power.

Recent polling shows his Likud party is on track to win a plurality of seats in the next Parliament. However, his right-wing bloc is still unlikely to get the 61 seats needed to form a ruling government, Axios reported.

–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice