Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will not run in the upcoming legislative elections

Whatever the outcome of the upcoming elections, Naftali Bennett will not be part of the future Israeli government. The current Prime Minister announced; Wednesday, June 29 that he will not be a candidate for the fifth legislative elections in less than four years in Israel.

It was announced a short time ago dissolution of parliament Which would pave the way for early elections. Initially, Israeli lawmakers planned to pass a series of laws on Tuesday and Wednesday before dissolving the Knesset in the evening, but discussions continued on Wednesday evening; The vote on the solution has been postponed until Thursday.

In June 2021, Mr. Bennett and current head of diplomacy, Yair Lapid, wrote a page in Israel’s history by bringing together a coalition of eight parties, including, for the first time, an Arab formation. This coalition had eliminated Benjamin Netanyahu for the twelve consecutive years in power.

A year later, the coalition lost its majority in the House of Representatives. Mr. Bennett threw in the towel last week when he announced his intention to dissolve the Knesset to call new elections.

Since this surprise announcement, Israel has been rife with rumors. Opposition leader Netanyahu (Likud, right) tried to rally coalition lawmakers to form a party “alternative government” And thus regaining the position of prime minister without going through elections. But these attempts were unsuccessful, and a parliamentary committee worked through the night from Monday to Tuesday to dissolve Parliament on Wednesday.

Yair Lapid will be working temporarily

After the dissolution, Mr. Bennett will make way for Mr. Lapid. Their coalition agreement provided for power-sharing, including a clause that Mr. Lapid would serve temporarily until a new government was formed if the Knesset was dissolved. For the next few months, his office said, Bennett would retain the title of acting prime minister.

‘What we need today is to return to the concept of Israeli unity and not let dark forces divide us’, Mr. Lapid said last week. This former star journalist, who founded the centrist Yesh Atid (“there is a future” in Hebrew) party a decade ago, will have to quickly put his forces in order for the election to battle.

It is he who, in mid-July, will welcome the President of the United States, Joe Biden, on his first tour of the Middle East since his arrival at the White House.