Knesset dissolves Itself again, sends Israel to elections for 3rd time in 11 months
The Knesset on Wednesday night approved a proposal to disperse the 22nd Knesset and hold general elections on March 3rd.
MKs debated the NGO Transparency Bill late into the night. Jul 11, 2016. Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS
A majority of 94 Members of Knesset voted in favour of the bill, and none opposed the motion.
This is the second time this year that the Knesset dissolved itself, and the third time in less than a year’s time that Israel will be forced to vote for its leadership.
Israel is heading to elections again after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, and Benny Gantz and his Blue and White Party failed to put together a viable coalition or form a unity government, despite numerous hours of negotiations on the subject.
Both parties continued to accuse each other of the political crisis throughout the day and dashed any hope for a last-minute resolution of this unprecedented predicament.
The major point of contention between the two largest parties still appears to be who will serve first as prime minister, Netanyahu or Gantz.
Netanyahu will be up for elections again while contending with three indictments after Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his dramatic decision to charge Netanyahu with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three cases, making him the first prime minister in Israeli history to be indicted while in office.
The latest polls project that the political makeup will stay as it is, with small changes, and that the political stalemate will continue.
