Coalition party heads in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have decided to dissolve parliament and hold elections in early April "in the name of budgetary and national responsibility," the statement distributed by a spokesman for Netanyahu's Likud party said. “In the name of budgetary and national responsibility, party leaders in the coalition agreed unanimously to dissolve the Knesset and go to new elections at the beginning of April, following a full four-year term,” said a government spokesperson on behalf of the governing parties. Netanyahu's coalition has been plagued by internal divisions for months, including the recent resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in protest of what he perceived to be the government's weak response to rocket attacks from Hamas-ruled Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition governs with a razor-thin majority, and has been struggling to pass a new bill that would extend the military draft to ultra-Orthodox Jewish students. Ultra Orthodox Jews have been exempted from the draft for years as they fear conscription could lead to immersion in secularism.
The coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves the Knesset and sets early elections for April. The coalition has been struggling after failing to pass a new bill that would extend the military draft to ultra-Orthodox Jews and the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of one of the parties in the coalition.