After giving its preliminary approval, and barring last-minute progress in deadlocked efforts to form a new government, the Knesset was set to vote for its dissolution later in the day and approve a March 2, 2020 election date already agreed upon by the two major parties.

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What had once seemed nearly impossible to many Israelis – a third visit to polling stations after inconclusive elections in April and September – carries a heavy economic price: it will be well into 2020 before a new budget is passed, which will mean months of cutbacks that could weigh on growth.

Neither Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party nor the rival Blue and White party led by former military chief Benny Gantz, won enough seats for a governing majority in the previous two contests on April 9 and Sept. 17.

Both men were tasked with forming a coalition, but failed. Each has blamed the other for the impasse, in which neither could agree on the terms for a rotating premiership.

Under Israeli law, since neither MK managed to win the confidence of the Knesset, this means that by Wednesday at midnight the Knesset automatically dissolves.

The only way to avert to this would be if someone gets the endorsement of 61 MKs to become prime minister, but both sides appeared to be hunkering down on Wednesday afternoon.

In the two previous national ballots, Netanyahu's opponents focused on the three corruption investigations against him that included allegations he dispensed favors to media barons in a push for more favorable media coverage.

But this time, Israel's longest-serving leader is running under the cloud of criminal indictment after charges of bribery, breach of trust, and fraud against him were announced last month.

Denying any wrongdoing, Netanyahu, 70, has accused legal authorities of attempting a "coup" aimed at ousting a popular right-wing leader. Critics alleged that Netanyahu was trying to undermine the rule of law and set an election campaign theme portraying himself as the victim of "deep state" conspiracy.

As prime minister, Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign as a result of the indictment, and while in office he can ask the legislature to grant him immunity from prosecution.

As caretaker premier, Netanyahu would remain in the post until a new government is formed – a process that could stretch months past a March ballot if what is likely to be tortuous coalition-building is taken into account.

Netanyahu, vowing to "win big" at the polls, has described himself as best-placed to deal with Israel's many security threats. He has cited challenges posed by Iran as the main reason why Gantz should rally to his call for a unity government.

An opinion poll on Israel's Channel 13 News on Tuesday forecast Blue and White would win 37 seats to Likud's 33 in the 120-member parliament, increasing the one-seat advantage it gained in the election in April.

But it also indicated that both parties could still struggle to secure enough allies for a majority coalition.

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According to the report from Tuesday, if the deadline to form a new government elapses and the Knesset calls an early election for the third time in less than a year, Netanyahu's Likud would win 33 seats, compared to only 26 if Sa'ar was Likud chairman. Likud currently has 32 seats.

Sa'ar has called on Netanyahu to step down, saying that his indictment is preventing the formation of a new government and will lead Israel to an unnecessary election. Netanyahu has refused to step down but has agreed to a leadership race, although that is likely to take place only after a general election is called.

According to the poll, whether Netanyahu or Sa'ar is at the helm does not change much of the math in the overall Knesset, because the overall right-wing bloc would be the biggest. But in the case of Sa'ar being chairman, Likud would shed much of its strength to other parties on the Right and would get only 26 seats.

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Founded as the Russian immigrants' party, Yisrael Beytenu owes all of its political power to its traditional base. The party is trying to promote a series of laws the Russian electorate would find meets its specific concerns, and Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman has already declared that separating religion and state will be a precondition to the party joining any coalition.

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Lieberman has promised to introduce widespread reforms to the conversion process, public transportation on Shabbat, allowing civil marriage and ensuring that commerce remains uninterrupted over the weekend.

These campaign promises are not new, and while Lieberman is trying to court younger Russian voters – only a fifth of whom voted for Yisrael Beytenu in April – it seems that Lieberman is touting them more boisterously as part of his efforts to butt heads with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Likud, for its part, has invested considerable resources in courting the Russian electorate, setting up a special election campaign and focusing on "large electoral hubs" in Ashdod and Netanya.

The ruling party is trying to appeal to the electorate's natural right-wing tendencies, underscoring that Lieberman's insistence he would join Netanyahu's government only if it excludes ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism is unrealistic. This insistence, according to the Likud, is therefore doing a disservice to the sector, and may even cost the Likud the elections, thereby giving rise to a left-wing government.

While Blue and White seems very concerned that it would be unable to gnaw at Yisrael Beytenu's and Likud's Russian electoral base, the party has yet to earmark any funds for a sector-specific campaign or task anyone but MK Yoel Razvozov with the task of corralling Russian votes.

Razvozov, No. 18 on Blue and White's list, is the party's only Russian lawmaker. He is believed to have secured three mandates in April's elections.

The Labor-Gesher partnership, which has sworn to champion social causes and especially those of the periphery, has marginalized the Russian sector, placing its "sectorial candidate" Vladimir Sverdlov in the highly unrealistic 25th slot.

Labor insiders said that the party plans to launch a Russian-speaking campaign in the coming days, which will include interviews by Labor Leader Amir Peretz with Russian media, as well as meetings with leaders of public opinion in the sector.

Over at the Democratic Union, faction leader Nitzan Horowitz said he would reform Israel's marriage act – which gives the Chief Rabbinate absolute control over the issue – so as to allow civil marriage in Israel.

The faction has designated a special campaign director to oversee its appeal to Russian voters, party officials make sure that they are interviewed by the local Russian-language media, and the party is also investing considerable resources in sector-specific advertising.

As for Yamina (formerly United Right), the national-religious faction seems to be ignoring the Russian electorate completely, as it has not launched any Russian-language campaigns, nor have any of its members attended any political events for Russian voters.

Danielle Roth-Avneri, Yori Yalon, Dan Lavie and Avi Cohen contributed to this report.

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In a Facebook post, Odeh condemned Barak for calling on Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to temper the police's reaction to the escalating protests against Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, but rejected the apology, saying Barak had "betrayed," Israeli Arabs.

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Earlier, Barak had written a Facebook post about arrests made during the weekly protest near Mendelblit's home in Petach Tikva – a weekly occurrence expressing frustration by some who believe the attorney general is dragging his feet in the investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Erdan, Petah Tikva is not Umm al-Hiran, civilians are allowed to protest," Barak wrote, referring to the Bedouin village that has been at the center of diplomatic controversy ahead of its planned demolition.

Commenting on Barak's apology for the killing of 12 Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian by security forces during clashes in 2000, which took place while Barak was prime minister and are widely considered at the trigger to the Second Intifada, Odeh wrote, "Barak, protesting is allowed in Umm al-Hiran as well, and Arab citizens are also allowed to protest.

"Nineteen years have passed since you were responsible for the killing of 13 Arab citizens because they took to the streets. Nineteen years since you betrayed the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who voted for you in the direct election against Benjamin Netanyahu. We learned the hard way that there are more important things than the politics of 'anyone but Bibi.'"

"We have already seen your cynical election apology to Mizrahi Jews," the Arab lawmaker continued. "A real show of responsibility would be stepping down from the public stage. In order to replace the right-wing government and fight for a future of the partnership, you must be left in the past."

Responding on Facebook, Barak wrote: "There is no need to help Netanyahu stoke hatred and Odeh knows this well. The misunderstanding of my wording has been clarified: 'In Umm Al-Hiran, the investigation was covered up. This must not happen again.' Exploiting a misunderstanding for the sake of provoking a fight between Jews and Arabs is not a partnership. It is a continuation of the despicable cooperation with Netanyahu."

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The unprecedented move to truncate the Knesset's term about a month after lawmakers took the oath of office means that Israelis will head to the polls for the second time in 2019.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies won the April 9 election, but Netanyahu did not present a coalition by the deadline on Wednesday because of internal squabbling between Yisrael Beytenu and the haredi parties over the issue of haredi conscription.

Netanyahu, rather than inform the president that he had failed to assemble a government and risk losing the job to another MK, decided to take another chance with Israeli voters and call for an early election.

The crisis over haredi conscription beset the coalition talks from the moment negotiations began more than a month ago.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman made it clear that he would not join Netanyahu's fifth government unless the bill to set quotas for haredi conscription was passed without any change to its language, but haredi parties said they could not accept its provisions because it would set penalties on ultra-Orthodox educational institutions and would end the de facto exemption almost all haredi men get upon reaching draft age.

Without Lieberman's five MKs on his side, Netanyahu was unable to secure enough votes to win a confidence vote in the  Knesset, forcing him to take the unusual step to change the Knesset makeup.

The bill to dissolve the Knesset was approved by a vote of 75 to 45 late on Wednesday after it became clear that  Lieberman was not going to accept any compromise.

Had Netanyahu not triggered an early election, President Reuven Rivlin would have tapped someone else to form a government. Netanyahu could have theoretically gotten another shot if that MK failed as well, but that was too risky.

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