Lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament on Thursday, paving the way for a new election after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline.
Netanyahu preferred a new ballot, set for Sept. 17, to the alternative, under which Israeli President Reuven Rivlin could have asked another politician to try and form a ruling coalition.
The election, Israel's second this year after an April 9 poll means unprecedented upheaval for the country.
"We will win," Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party, vowed after parliament voted for a fresh election when the deadline expired for him to assemble his fifth government.
The turmoil arose – officially, at least – from a feud over military conscription between Netanyahu's presumed allies: ex-defense minister Avigdor Lieberman and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.
Those parties want young religious scholars exempted, en masse from mandatory national service. But Lieberman and many other Israelis say they should share the burden.
Faced with the prospect of having to step aside at the end of a 42-day period to put together a government, Netanyahu instead drummed up votes to dissolve the Knesset, accusing Lieberman of aiming to topple him. Lieberman denied the allegation.
The new election, with coalition-building that could stretch into November, could further delay U.S. efforts to press ahead with President Donald Trump's forthcoming "deal of the century."
Even before it has been announced, Palestinians have spurned the plan.
