Tel-Chai Nation

This is not good, no matter how you look at things. Coalition negotiations failed, so new elections will be held in September:

Israel is heading to elections again after Netanyahu and his Likud party have failed to put together a viable coalition.

After receiving an extension from President Reuven Rivlin, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu failed to form a coalition of 61 Knesset members needed to establish a government.

While 65 members of Knesset recommended that Netanyahu be entrusted with the formation of the new government after winning the April elections, he was unable to bridge the differences among his potential coalition partners.

Israeli lawmakers took the unprecedented step of dissolving the Knesset, throwing the country back into another election season just weeks after a national election.

After a 12-hour debate, lawmakers approved a measure by a vote of 74 to 45 to dissolve the 21st Knesset and hold new elections on September 17. The Likud-sponsored bill was supported by fellow right-wing parties Yisrael Beitenu, United Torah Judaism, Shas and the Union of Right-Wing Parties as well as two Israeli Arab parties, Ra’am Balad and Hadash Ta’al.

As one of the only acts of the 21st Knesset, the decision to dissolve the parliament came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a governing coalition.

The failure largely came as a result of an impasse between former defense minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman and the ultra-Orthodox parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism over a military draft bill.

It's clear that, even if a coalition had been formed, it would've collapsed soon after, because Lieberman was making such a bizarre fuss over this whole issue, and come to think of it, the Haredi parties too. A real shame this had to happen, and we have to hope the Likud can do as well in this next election as it did in the past month.

Labels: Israel, Knesset, military, Moonbattery