This dissolution ends a brief year of government by the outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, at the head of a coalition of eight parties (right, left, center), which included an Arab party for the first time, something historic in Israel.
Its main objective was to put an end to 12 uninterrupted years of power by the right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu, but also to form an executive, which was impossible after the three previous and close elections.
Hours before the dissolution of parliament, initially scheduled for Wednesday night and then postponed to Thursday due to delays in other votes, Bennett announced that he will not be a candidate in the next election.
He will hand over the post of prime minister to Lapid on Friday at 00:00 local time (9:00 pm Thursday), and Lapid will serve as interim head of government until the formation of a next government.
loss of majority
The coalition agreement included a change in power and a clause that established that Lapid would be interim prime minister until the formation of a new government in the event of the dissolution of parliament.
A year after this historic agreement was signed, the coalition lost its majority in the chamber and Bennett announced last week his intention to dissolve it to call new elections.
On June 6, the opposition did inflict a setback on the Bennett-Lapid coalition, rallying a majority against renewing a “settler bill,” a provision that the House has to pass every five years.
This law had to be renewed before June 30, otherwise settlers in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, risked losing their legal protection under Israeli law.
Bennett, a fervent defender of these colonies, illegal under international law, could not run the risk of entering such a situation and preferred to put an end to his government.
“Israeli Unity”
“What we need now is to return to the concept of Israeli unity and not let the shadow forces divide us,” Lapid said last week.
This Thursday, Lapid, before a symbolic transfer of power ceremony, issued a statement: “I promised my late father that I would guarantee a strong Israel, that protects his children.”
This former star journalist will occupy both the head of government and the position of foreign minister, while mobilizing his forces for the upcoming elections.
In mid-July, he will receive US President Joe Biden in Israel on his first visit to the Middle East since his arrival at the White House.
Domestically, he should keep his eyes and attention on the head of the opposition and the Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, 72, tried for corruption in a series of cases, and who fervently wants to return to his old position as Prime Minister.
“The (coalition) experience has failed,” Netanyahu said Thursday. “That’s what happens when you mix a false extreme right with the radical left, all mixed up with the Muslim Brotherhood…,” he added.
“Will we have another Lapid government that will be a failure or a right-wing government led by us? We are the only alternative! A strong, nationalist and responsible government,” Netanyahu assured, thus de facto launching his next electoral campaign.
According to polls, the Israeli political landscape remains highly fragmented, with 13 parties sharing the 120 Knesset seats.