Israel is to hold its second election this year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline.

Israel's parliament voted to dissolve itself - less than two months after the last general election.

The new vote is expected to be held in September.

"We will run a sharp, clear election campaign which will bring us victory," said Mr Netanyahu. "We will win, we will win and the public will win."

The vote to dissolve the Knesset dealt a blow to Mr Netanyahu, who appeared to capture a fourth consecutive term in April's election.

But infighting among his ultra-orthodox and secular ultra-nationalist allies, and disagreement about proposals to protect Mr Netanyahu from prosecution sank his efforts to form a coalition.

His party then brought forward a bill to dissolve parliament, rather than concede the task of forming a government to a rival.

In April, Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party won 35 of the 120 seats on offer in the Knesset, despite facing possible indictment in three cases of corruption.

He denies the corruption charges, and accused his opponents of mounting a witch hunt against him. </s> Israeli lawmakers on Thursday voted to dissolve the Parliament after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government following elections held in April, reported Reuters. Netanyahu will now remain in power until fresh elections are held on September 17.

The lawmakers voted 74-45 in favour of dissolving the parliament. It is the first time in Israel’s history that a prime minister-designate has failed to form a coalition, according to BBC.

“We’ll run a sharp, clear election campaign which will bring us victory,” Netanyahu told reporters after the vote. “We’ll win, we’ll win and the public will win.”

In the elections in held in April, Netanyahu’s Likud Party won 35 out of 120 seats. His party then tried to join hands with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party. But talks failed after former Defence Minister Lieberman demanded that the military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students be changed.

Israel has always had coalition governments. No party has ever won majority in the country’s 120-seat parliament.

Netanyahu, who faces charges of corruption, had promised to annex the West Bank if he is reelected. On March 1, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit recommended the prime minister be indicted on breach of trust and bribery charges in three separate cases. </s> Israel is heading for an unprecedented second election in less than six months after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition before a Wednesday night deadline and instead forced through a bill to dissolve parliament.

Mr Netanyahu won the most votes in April’s election but has spent the last six weeks struggling to convince smaller Right-wing parties to join his coalition and help him form a majority government.

After a series of frantic last-ditch negotiations broke down, a stony-faced Mr Netanyahu returned to parliament shortly before midnight on Wednesday and voted in favour of a bill to hold new elections on September 17.

The bill passed 74-45. Moments after the vote, Mr Netanyahu condemned the new elections as “superfluous, wasteful elections that nobody needs and nobody wants because the people already spoke”.

Israel has never before been forced to hold two elections in a single year and the political chaos is a potentially seriously blow to Mr Netanyahu, who managed to win the April elections despite facing criminal corruption charges.

The prime minister, who has held power for 13 years, had hoped to use his new government to change the law and shield himself from prosecution. Instead, he finds himself fighting an unwanted second election.

The turmoil in Israel is likely to have repercussions on the White House’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

The economic half of the plan is due to be unveiled at a summit in Bahrain next month, while the more controversial political half was expected to be rolled out at a later date. It seems likely the political component will now be delayed or potentially shelved completely.

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and point man on the peace process, is due to meet with Mr Netanyahu on Thursday.

The Israeli prime minister’s woes centred around Avigdor Lieberman, his mercurial former defence minister who leads the small Yisrael Beiteinu Right-wing party.

Mr Lieberman, an avowed secularist, said he would only join Mr Netanyahu’s government if the prime minister pledged to move ahead with a law that would increase the numbers of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men conscripted into the Israeli military.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews are currently exempted from military service as long as they can show they are involved in full-time religious studies.

Mr Lieberman’s demands were flatly rejected by the ultra-Orthodox political parties, whom Mr Netanyahu also needed to form a majority government.

The prime minister spent weeks trying to broker a compromise between the two sides but was ultimately unsuccessful, despite an intervention from Donald Trump who said he was hoping for a deal.

Mr Lieberman accused the prime minister’s Likud party of caving before the ultra-Orthodox, also known as the haredi.

“The Likud surrendered completely to the haredi,” he said, shortly before the parliamentary vote.

Mr Netanyahu blasted Mr Lieberman, saying he was dragging the country to elections “because of his own whims”. </s> Israel is heading for an unprecedented second election in less than six months after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition before a Wednesday night deadline and instead forced through a bill to dissolve parliament.

Mr Netanyahu won the most votes in April’s election but has spent the last six weeks struggling to convince smaller Right-wing parties to join his coalition and help him form a majority government.

After a series of frantic last-ditch negotiations broke down, a stony-faced Mr Netanyahu returned to parliament shortly before midnight on Wednesday and voted in favour of a bill to hold new elections on September 17.

The bill passed 74-45. Moments after the vote, Mr Netanyahu condemned the new elections as “superfluous, wasteful elections that nobody needs and nobody wants because the people already spoke”.

Israel has never before been forced to hold two elections in a single year and the political chaos is a potentially seriously blow to Mr Netanyahu, who managed to win the April elections despite facing criminal corruption charges. </s> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday in a reshuffle of his interim government as he gears up for the September elections.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the two acting ministers were ousted from their posts, without elaborating. Explaining the sudden termination, officials told Hebrew media the pair could not hold such “sensitive” positions for six months after they failed to be reelected by the public.

The move, however, was widely seen as designed to prevent the once-popular right-wing ministers from using their positions to bolster their campaigns for the fall vote.

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Bennett and Shaked’s New Right party failed to clear the electoral threshold in the April 9 election, and they are no longer members of the Knesset, but remained part of the cabinet for the time being. The two are expected to run again in September, though it remains unclear whether they will run together, and if so whether they will do so independently as the New Right or in a merger with other right-wing parties.

Bennett showed up at the cabinet meeting on Sunday afternoon, after skipping the gathering for weeks after the election. He and Shaked were fired hours after reports emerged that Netanyahu had rejected a call to reserve a slot for Shaked on the Likud party slate.

Though Bennett and Netanyahu have a long history of political cooperation — and the prime minister, should he again come out ahead in the next vote and be tasked with forming the government, could find himself dependent on Bennett’s support — the two politicians have also frequently clashed publicly and bitterly.

In a joint statement, Bennett and Shaked said they would cooperate with their replacements to ensure a smooth transition.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we thank the people of Israel for the rare privilege to serve them as ministers of education and justice,” they said.

“Everything we have done was for the good of the State of Israel and its citizens. We will hand over the offices we chaired in an organized fashion, to the ministers who will replace us, to ensure a smooth transition and so that the next school year will open in order.”

According to a television report on Saturday, Netanyahu plans to fill the vacated cabinet seats with members of his own Likud party.

According to Channel 13, Netanyahu and his advisers have discussed appointing Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin as immigration and absorption minister to help Likud in its outreach efforts to Russian-speaking Israelis during the September election campaign.

As a native Russian speaker and immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Elkin, Likud believes, can help draw votes away from Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, the traditional home of Russian-speaking immigrants.

Netanyahu is reportedly hoping to punish Liberman and even deprive him of the necessary number of votes to enter parliament in retribution for the latter’s refusal to join a coalition under the terms on offer, causing Netanyahu to fail to build a government last week.

The current immigration minister, Yoav Gallant, would be appointed to a different ministerial portfolio, the report said. Gallant, who was appointed minister after defecting to Likud from Kulanu ahead of April’s elections, would likely be given a promotion to a more senior cabinet post.

The Knesset on Wednesday night voted to disband itself and called new elections for September 17, after Netanyahu failed to broker a compromise between Yisrael Beytenu and ultra-Orthodox parties.

Initial polls have suggested Liberman may emerge from the coalition standoff in a stronger position, and increase his party’s five Knesset seats to eight or nine in the September election. The polls published on Thursday night also predicted Netanyahu’s Likud staying in the lead with 35 or 36 seats in the Knesset.

Israel’s political map is likely to change in the weeks ahead of the September election, with media reports suggesting that Bennett could lead a new right-wing alliance, Labor mulling a new leader and possibly merging with Meretz or Blue and White, and the Arab parties running on a joint list.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. </s> Jerusalem: In an unprecedented development, Israeli lawmakers have voted to dissolve Parliament after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline, triggering a fresh general election to be held on September 17.

In little more than six weeks since they were elected, Israeli lawmakers voted 74-45 in favour of dissolving the 21st Knesset (Israeli Parliament) and hold a second general election in the same calendar year.

It is the first time in Israel’s history that a prime minister-designate has failed to form a coalition.

Netanyahu’s remarkable victory in the April 9 polls securing him a record fifth term proved temporary in the face of a logjam between potential coalition partners over a military conscription bill governing exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.

Former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman of the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party conditioned allying with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties in the Netanyahu-led government subject to changes to their military draft exemptions.

Lieberman told reporters just before the vote that Israel was going to the polls because of the “complete surrender of the Likud (ruling party) to the haredim (ultra-orthodox)”.

Without Yisrael Beitenu, Netanyahu could muster support of only 60 lawmakers in the 120 member house, falling short of a majority by just one.

Netanyahu launched a diatribe against Lieberman whom he blamed for “dragging the country to unnecessary elections”.

“Avigdor Liberman is now part of the left. He brings down right-wing governments. Don’t believe him again. I will tell you about it tomorrow. Maybe I will tell you some things you don’t know,” the Prime Minister told reporters immediately after the Knesset voted to dissolve itself.

“We’ll run a sharp, clear election campaign which will bring us victory. We’ll win, we’ll win and the public will win,” he said.

“The public in Israel made a clear decision. It decided that I will be Prime Minister, that the Likud will lead the government, a right-wing government,” Netanyahu said.

According to several political analysts, the impasse leading to the political crisis was borne out of personal ego clash between the two leaders and does not really have a sound ideological ground.

Netanyahu and Lieberman’s association in politics goes back some 31 years when the latter assisted the former during his tenure as the deputy foreign minister in an unofficial capacity.

The move by Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party to dissolve the Knesset ensured that President Reuven Rivlin would not be able to call some other lawmaker to try to form a new government.

Rivlin had asked Netanyahu to form the next government after 65 lawmakers, including five of Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party, submitted letters of support for him.

Netanyahu asked for an additional two weeks time to form the government after failing to cobble up one together during the mandated 28 days period. The extended time period was to expire at midnight on Wednesday.

Likud party had won 35 seats in the April 9 elections and the right-wing parties had together won 65 seats in the 120 member Knesset, making everyone believe that a right wing government was inevitable and easy to form.

Netanyahu declared victory and started coalition negotiations immediately after the results came out, but contrary to expectations, the jubilation in the right-wing bloc proved momentary with no resolution on the draft exemption bill.

The Israeli Prime Minister had lamented the difficulties faced by him in the process of forging a coalition during a telephonic conversation with Narendra Modi on May 23 when he called up the Indian Prime Minister to congratulate the him on his resounding victory in the general elections.

“Well, thank you for your congratulations on my victory, but there’s one difference: You don’t need a coalition, I do, and there’s a big difference,” Netanyahu told Modi after the Indian Prime Minister also congratulated him on his electoral success during the conversation. </s> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not appoint new justice and education ministers until next week, a spokesperson said Monday, a day after the premier fired Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett from their posts and said he would select their successors this week.

Citing Netanyahu’s desire to discuss the matter with people “in the coalition and within Likud in the coming days,” spokesperson Yonatan Urich told reporters the ministerial portfolios would not be given out before the beginning of next week.

On Sunday, Netanyahu fired Justice Minister Shaked and Education Minister Bennett, from the rival New Right party, in a move that takes 48 hours to go into effect.

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At the time, a spokeswoman said the new appointments will be decided on within two days, stressing that Netanyahu “has no intention of holding one of the vacated portfolios himself.”

But, starting Tuesday morning, Netanyahu will be acting education and justice minister during his consultation period. For the prime minister to hold the latter portfolio could be controversial as he faces corruption indictments, pending a hearing, in three cases against him.

Netanyahu is also defense, foreign, and health minister.

MKs Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich from the Union of Right-Wing Parties have urged Netanyahu to appoint them as education and justice ministers, respectively, in place of Bennett and Shaked. The URWP was one of the parties that sought to form a coalition with Netanyahu after his Likud party won the most votes in the April elections.

On Sunday, Smotrich said Israel should adhere to religious Jewish law and asserted that the country should aspire to govern as “in the days of King David.” He doubled down on his position on Monday morning, telling Kan public radio that “the Jewish people is a special people that needs to live according to the Torah.”

The Knesset last Wednesday night voted to disband and called new elections for September 17, after Netanyahu failed to build a coalition due to an impasse between the secular Yisrael Beytenu party and ultra-Orthodox parties. </s> JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections.

An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

There was no explanation for Sunday's firings.

Last week Israel's parliament voted to hold early elections, less than two months after April's polls, as Netanyahu failed to muster a governing coalition.

Shaked, the justice minister, and Bennett, the education minister, have not said if they are running in September's election. Their New Right party failed to enter parliament in April, but they remained on the job pending formation of a new government.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett arrives to attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday, June 2, 2019. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections. An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. (Ronen Zvulun, Pool via AP) </s> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired his education and justice ministers, days after parliament voted to hold new elections.

An official in Netanyahu's office confirmed that Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, two hawkish former allies, were dismissed from the interim government. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

There was no explanation for Sunday's firings.

Last week Israel's parliament voted to hold early elections, less than two months after April's polls, as Netanyahu failed to muster a governing coalition.

Shaked, the justice minister, and Bennett, the education minister, have not said if they are running in September's election. Their New Right party failed to enter parliament in April, but they remained on the job pending formation of a new government.
Israel is expected to hold a new election on September 17 as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form a government.