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The announcement comes as Israel is going through a new political crisis that will take the country to a fifth electoral process in less than four years. The Parliament (Knesset), which was dissolved at midnight on Wednesday (local time), hastened to resolve pending issues and pass laws before the deadline. Yair Lapid, until now only head of the Foreign Ministry, will also take over as interim prime minister.
Naftali Bennett, until this Wednesday, June 29, Israeli Prime Minister, will not aspire to occupy the office of Prime Minister again because he will not stand in the next elections. The news was announced while the fifth elections are being prepared in a period of less than four years.
“I want to inform you that I have no intention of participating in the next elections, but I will continue to be a faithful soldier of this country, which I have served all my life, whether as a soldier, as a minister or as prime minister,” he said.
In a conversation with the press, Bennett claimed to have left behind a “prosperous, strong and safe” country. According to the outgoing head of government, he proved that “people with very different opinions can work together”, referring to his diverse coalition, the same one that was not sustainable due to infighting and led him to dissolve Parliament, known as the Knesset. .
Yair Lapid, who will retain the foreign affairs portfolio, replaced Bennett in the post on an interim basis and with limited powers. However, the possible return of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister in the elections to be held at the end of October or beginning of November, whose date is yet to be determined, is being considered.
Netanyahu, now in opposition, does not hide his satisfaction with the end of what he has called, according to the media, the worst government in Israel’s history. Likud, Netanyahu’s party, leads the polls.
Lapid and Bennett put an end to Netanyahu’s 12 years as head of government a little over a year ago.
The day before, the Knesset preliminarily approved its dissolution with the vote of its 120 deputies.
The constant refusal of the opposition, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, hampered the initiatives of the coalition. In a marathon session, Parliament approved a large number of bills at the last moment.
The “most dangerous” government
In the midst of the crisis, the Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Fadi al-Hidmi, described the work of the Bennett-led Executive as the “most dangerous” for Jerusalem.
Hidmi justified his qualification by arguing that the outgoing prime minister increased the construction of settlements, the demolition of Palestinian houses, the arrests and “the plans to Judaize” the city in which his work is oriented.
The Palestinian official also denounced the “violations inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque” and other holy Islamic and Christian sites in the city.
The Israeli political crisis does not come at a good time. The country fights against the increase in the cost of living and the permanent threat of its enemies in Tehran, Iran, who are in a buoyant moment, with the movements that Europe and the United States are executing to revive the nuclear pact, known as JCPOA , for its acronym in English, of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Netanyahu’s strategies
One last move was reserved for Benjamin Netanyahu before the dissolution of Parliament.
He and his allies tried to form an alternative majority that could take control of the government before the dissolution, an aspect that was not developed.
Experts consider that, in a year without Netanyahu as prime minister, politics took a different breath, in addition to observing an Executive that was guided by an order of public priorities and not by personal issues.
According to a column published in the local newspaper ‘Yediot Ahronot’, in addition to occupying the residence of the head of government, Benjamin Netanyahu aspires to have an absolute majority in the Knesset, with which he could control the Supreme Court to pass a jurisdiction that guarantee impunity in his trial for corruption while coordinating the Cabinet.
Reuters, EFE and international media
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