It was a rough day for Israel’s “Prime Minister for life” Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israeli parliament voted 74-45 to dissolve itself when for the first time in the country’s history, the PM elect failed to form a new coalition government.
New elections are scheduled to be held on September 17th.
Hoping to stitch together a motley alliance of Far Right nationalists and ultra-Orthodox blocs, Netanyahu was unable to reach a coalition deal following last month’s tight election which saw the sitting PM win by a narrow margin against former military chief of staff Benny Gantz.
Critics say this latest debacle underscores an increasingly unpopular Netanyuhu and his Likud party’s lack of a mandate after winning a mere 35 of the Knesset’s 120 seats in April’s election.
According to Haaretz, Coalition negotiations had been in a deadlock due to infighting between Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman and the Hassidic faction of ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism over Lieberman’s draft bill which would require orthodox yeshiva students, who are currently exempt from mandatory IDF conscription, to be drafted to the Israeli military.
Following today’s decision, an angry Netanyahu launched into a tirade against fellow cohort and Zionist extremist Lieberman. Watch:
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