Israeli lawmakers tentatively agreed overnight on Monday to hold an early election on Sept. 17, hours after Likud and Yisrael Beytenu failed to resolve their ongoing spat over legislation dealing with ultra-Orthodox conscription, which has prevented the swearing-in of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fifth government.
If the early election bill receives its final passage later this week, it will send the political system into disarray less than two months after Israelis went to the polls.
Netanyahu won the April 9 election after the Likud Party emerged tied as the largest party in the 120-seat Knesset. Along with his traditional allies, Netanyahu appeared to control a solid 65-55 majority.
But he has struggled to form a government ahead of a looming deadline on Wednesday. His prospective coalition has been thrown into crisis in recent days by Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman.
Lieberman, whose party is crucial for a right-wing majority in the Knesset, has refused to join Netanyahu's government-in-the-making because the prime minister had agreed to rewrite parts of a bill dealing with haredi conscription that sets general quotas for the number of ultra-Orthodox men that get drafted each year to the Israel Defense Forces.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews get a de facto exemption from military service under an arrangement dating back to the state's founding. The High Court of Justice has ruled that this was unconstitutional and discriminatory and several bills have been drafted to change this, but haredi lawmakers have successfully thwarted any measures.
Lieberman has attacked Netanyahu for introducing new language to the latest bill, saying this would effectively gut its core provisions. He has insisted that he would rather join the opposition than betray his principles, but Likud officials suspect that his real goal is to deny Netanyahu a fifth term because of the mutual animosity between the two.
Netanyahu delivered a primetime statement on Monday calling on his potential partners to put "the good of the nation above every other interest" in order to avoid sending the country once again to an "expensive, wasteful" election. He placed the blame on Lieberman for creating the crisis but said he was hopeful his efforts to salvage a compromise in the next 48 hours would succeed.
"We can do a lot in 48 hours. We can establish a strong, right-wing government," he said.
"I expect the good of the country to overcome any other interest. There is still time. We can still come to our senses," the prime minister concluded.
Without the five seats of Lieberman's party, Netanyahu cannot muster a majority in the Knesset, although he could try to win a confidence vote by convincing Lieberman to abstain.
"The conscription bill has become a symbol and we will not capitulate on our symbols," Lieberman said defiantly on Monday, vowing to press for a new election if his demands are not met.
Netanyahu and Lieberman met Monday evening in a last-ditch effort to find a compromise. Israeli media said the meeting ended without any progress and quoted Likud officials as saying Netanyahu would soon call for new elections.
The Likud insists that Lieberman is motivated by his personal spite for Netanyahu and has launched a vicious campaign against him in recent days. But Lieberman says he is driven by ideology and will not be a hand in religious coercion.
Dissolving the parliament would be a shocking turn of events for Netanyahu, who has led the country for the past decade. "We invite Lieberman to join us today and not contribute to the toppling of a right-wing government," a statement by Likud read.
U.S. President Donald Trump waded into Israeli politics and tweeted support for Netanyahu, saying he was "hoping things will work out with Israel's coalition formation and Bibi [Netanyahu] and I can continue to make the alliance between America and Israel stronger than ever."
