After attempts to stabilize the government failed, Israel’s PM Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have agreed that the Knesset would be disbanding next week on Monday, subject to a vote on the matter. Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, will become interim prime minister if the Knesset is disbanded, lasting until elections take place, scheduled now for October 2nd.
Lapid will officially become the 14th Prime Minister after the vote passes. Bennett & Lapid will hold a press conference at 8pm.
Yair Lapid who will be the acting 14th Prime Minister, will welcome US President Biden at the airport when he arrives on July 13th.
🔴 Bennett & Lapid decide to dissolve #Knesset next week
➡️ Yair Lapid to become interim PM ahead of fresh elections
➡️ Israel to head to fifth elections in less than 4 years
Analysis by @Gil_Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst, The Jerusalem Post pic.twitter.com/bqBICtl0XU
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 20, 2022
🔴 BREAKING: Israeli government to present motion to disband Knesset next week; Foreign Minister @YairLapid to become transitional prime minister.
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) June 20, 2022
Yair Rosenberg, American journalist and a writer at The Atlantic & Deep Shtetl newsletter, breaks it down:
To explain the latest Israel news: The current government has agreed to dissolve and call new elections. But rather than the current prime minister Bennett holding office until then, the leader of the other half of the coalition, Yair Lapid, will become caretaker prime minister.
A few disconnected points:
1. Lapid becoming PM for this period was a non-obvious outcome. Netanyahu could have engineered a new government without elections. Or Bennett could have dissolved the coalition in a way that kept him as PM through elections. He and Lapid chose this.
2. There are many people, both in the coalition and opposition, who do not want Lapid to be prime minister even for this interim period. This includes Netanyahu, obviously, but also members of the coalition who may not want elections. There will be attempts to scuttle this plan.
3. Lapid’s role of “Caretaker Prime Minister” can last a lot longer than it sounds. The reason we got the current crazy Israeli coalition in the first place was because Israel had 4 inconclusive elections that failed to dislodge Netanyahu—who remained caretaker PM the whole time.
View more insights from Y. Rosenberg on Twitter by clicking here.
יש לנו תפקיד היסטורי מול הקיצוניות. לוודא שישראל נשארת דמוקרטיה חזקה, מאוחדת מול אוייביה, מאוחדת מול האתגרים הכלכליים שלה.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) June 20, 2022
