The Zionist entity will head into its fourth election in less than two years as the Knesset failed to pass a state budget by midnight Tuesday.
The Knesset dissolved automatically, setting a March 23 date for elections amid mutual recriminations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Israeli media reported.
The general vote will expectedly take place at the end of March 2021 after Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein’s announcement in the plenum at midnight made the elections official.
He urged politicians to “avoid escalating tensions,” with Netanyahu and Gantz blaming each other for not finding a way to keep their government going.
“It is no secret that the Likud and I did not want to go to elections,” Netanyahu said in a Knesset press conference. “Israel is going to elections due to internal fights in Blue and White.”
Netanyahu said he had agreed to the rotation in the Prime Minister’s Office before Blue and White reneged on their deal.
Blue and White responded by shifting the blame to Netanyahu, saying: “A man under three indictments is dragging Israel to elections for a fourth time. If there was no trial, there would be a budget and no elections.”
Source: Israeli media
