Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. Netanyahu has ordered new parliamentary elections in early... (Associated Press) 
 
 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at a conference room at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. In a televised statement, Netanyahu said that, as his coalition government would not be able to agree on a national budget for 2013, he had "decided, for the benefit of Israel, to hold elections now and as quickly as possible." A recent poll in the Haaretz daily found that 35 percent of Israelis believe Netanyahu is most suited to being prime minister, more than double that of his closest rival, Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich. Lagging behind Labor in the polls are Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, a new centrist party led by former TV anchorman Yair Lapid and the decimated Kadima Party, which is currently the largest group in parliament but has slipped badly in the polls under new leader Shaul Mofaz. He said that early elections are a "national interest," and thanked the citizens of Israel for the privilege they have granted him.
– Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that national elections will be held within three months—some eight months ahead of schedule—because he knows his conservative coalition government won't be able to agree on a budget. "For the benefit of Israel," the elections will be held "as quickly as possible," he said on national TV, reports Haaretz. Holding the elections quickly will help maintain a stability to aid Israel in maintaining a "responsible economic and defense policy," especially now when the nation is so concerned that Iran is close to developing a nuclear bomb, he noted. The "lightning-quick" elections are also likely to help him win re-election, AP reports. He's enjoying a wave of popularity, and the opposition is fragmented. Immediately after the announcement, the head of the Israel Labor Party said that Labor is the only real alternative to Netanyahu and his Likud party. The elections will be a choice "between two paths: Whether we will live in a jungle where the strong takes everything, or an enlightened and moral society," said party chief Shelly Yachimovich. The former leader of Kadima, Tzipi Livni, said on Facebook that after four "isolated, introspective" years under Netanyahu, it's time for Israel to "choose its path again."