Netanyahu government in Israel calls early elections

[sabbat hunter]

Last edited Mon Dec 24, 2018, 05:42 PM - Edit history (2)

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/natanyahu-government-in-israel-calls-early-elections-2018-12-24

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government agreed Wednesday to hold early elections on April 9 after the ruling coalition appeared to come up short on votes needed to pass a contentious piece of court-ordered legislation.

Netanyahu said his coalition “unanimously” agreed to disband the government and hold a new election. At a meeting of his Likud faction, he listed his accomplishments in office and said he hoped his current religious, nationalistic coalition would be the “core” of the next one as well.

The latest polls appear to predict another solid victory for Netanyahu, though an indictment over mounting corruption charges could still trip him up.

Netanyahu’s coalition has been roiled by internal divisions for months. Avigdor Lieberman resigned as defense minister last month to protest what he perceived to be the government’s weak response to rocket attacks from Hamas-ruled Gaza.

But a new law extending the military draft to ultra-Orthodox men appears to have triggered the government’s downfall. Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox partners are demanding the legislation be weakened and his razor-thin parliamentary majority seems to be making such a compromise impossible

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