Ministers in Israel's outgoing government vowed on Tuesday to prevent the re-election of Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, as the country braced for a fifth election in three years with polling predicting no clear winner.
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Plagued by infighting that ended his razor-thin parliamentary majority, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday triggered a snap election. A preliminary vote on the motion is set for Wednesday afternoon with final legislation continuing next week. Once the bill passes, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will assume top office in a caretaker capacity until the elections, currently set for Oct. 25, take place.
The prospect of an election delighted Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader who was toppled last year after 12 years in power when Bennett and Lapid mustered a rare coalition of hard-right, liberal and Arab politicians.
"Something great happened here," Netanyahu declared on Monday, saying that his conservative Likud party would lead the next government.
On Wednesday morning, political sources told Israel Hayom Netanyahu offered the premiership to Blue and White leader Defense Minister Benny Gantz, but he refused.
Gantz, whose power-sharing deal with Netanyahu in the previous government failed, told confidants that he did not trust Netanyahu to uphold the agreement as the opposition leader has "exhausted all the political trust you can give him."
Yisrael Beytenu leader Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who heads the New Hope party also ruled out joining forces with Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges he denies.
"I won't be bringing Bibi back. No [New Hope] MK will succumb to inducements" to defect to Likud, Sa'ar told Army Radio.
Lieberman said that he backs the legislation, already being pushed by coalition lawmakers, that would prevent anyone under criminal indictment from heading a government.
It is unclear whether the bill has enough cabinet or parliament support but the outgoing government has already pledge to spare no effort to pass it.
"The main object in the upcoming election is to prevent Netanyahu from returning to power," Lieberman said at an Israel Democracy Institute conference in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, United Torah Judaism MK Uri Maklev said that if Netanyahu fails to secure the support of 61 MKs in the upcoming elections, the Haredi party was likely to favor Gantz for the premiership.
"If Netanyahu will not succeed in forming a government, and Gantz will, we will be able to reach an agreement with or without a rotation," Maklev told Army Radio. "It is too early to examine this, but we have not ruled it out for a moment."
Also on Tuesday, the United States promised to maintain its strong support for Israel as it again weathers political turmoil.
President Joe Biden is slated to visit Israel in mid-July, and the visit will take place regardless of the elections, State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed.
"I don't expect political developments in Israel will have implications for what we are seeking to accomplish together with our Israeli partners - or with our Palestinian partners for that matter," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
"The strength of our relationship does not depend on who sits in the Oval Office. It doesn't depend on who sits in the prime minister's chair in Israel," Price told reporters.
"This is a strategic partnership between our two countries. It will continue to be a strategic partnership between our two countries in the coming weeks, in the coming months as the process plays out."
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