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The dissolution of the Knesset and the return of Benyamin Netanyahu loom in Israel


Written by Frédéric Dubessy on Thursday, June 23rd 2022 à 11:05 | Read 214 times



The 24th Knesset will be dissolved (photo: Knesset)
The 24th Knesset will be dissolved (photo: Knesset)
ISRAEL. On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the deputies voted unanimously in a preliminary reading of a bill providing for the dissolution of the Israeli parliament. "Since the government of Israel is incapable of running the State of Israel, it is proposed to dissolve the 24th Knesset and to declare that elections for the 25th Knesset will be held within 90 days of the adoption of this law," said the explanatory notes to the text presented by Yariv Levin of the Likud, the first opposition party.

Even if there are still steps to be taken - the process should be completed next week after two more readings - the chances of a new early legislative session are now at their highest.

These will be the fifth elections in less than four years. The political instability of this country of nine million inhabitants remains glaring.

The return of Benyamin Netanyahu

The dissolution of the Knesset seems to open a boulevard for the return of Benyamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister. The seventy-two year old has already served five terms in this position before failing, after twelve years in power, to form a government in June 2021. Despite the victory of his Likud party in the legislative elections of March 2021.

The task had then been entrusted by the President of the Republic Reuven Rivlin to Naftali Bennett. A year ago, the religious nationalist had managed to form a heterogeneous alliance between the right, the liberals and the Arab parties. It did not last.

At the head of the opposition, Benyamin Netanyahu now calls this team "the worst government in the history of Israel" and ironically says that it is organizing "the longest funeral in history". His conservative Likud party and its nationalist and ultra-religious allies are leading in the polls, but would not get a majority in the Knesset. "We will form a national government, led by Benyamin Netanyahu, for the good of the citizens and the State of Israel," said a confident Yariv Levin.
 

120 seats soon to be filled

The very day of the appointment of his successor, Benyamin Netanyahu had said he wanted to "bring down" the new government, and assured that he would be "back soon" in power.

However, since November 2019, he is still under investigation in three cases of corruption, fraud and breach of trust. "He knows that if Israel remains a liberal democracy, he will not be able to cancel his trial," Yair Lapid warned. After an agreement with the current Prime Minister on the evening of Tuesday 21 June 2022, this secular centrist foreign minister of fifty-eight years, a former journalist, should act as interim head of government. "We must tackle the cost of living, amplify the campaign against Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah and confront the forces that threaten to turn Israel into a non-democratic country," he said.

The fate of the 120 seats in the Knesset will be decided by voters between the end of September and the beginning of November 2022. The deputies still have to decide this in the process of adopting the bill, the preliminary reading of which was voted unanimously on Wednesday 22 June 2022. The most likely date is 25 October 2022.



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