Israel Edges Closer to 4th Election as Unity Talks Falter

[RandySF]

JERUSALEM — The Israeli president on Thursday handed the task of forming a government to Parliament, starting a 21-day countdown that could lead to new elections, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Benny Gantz, missed another midnight deadline to reach a power-sharing agreement.

The step, which was mainly technical, on its own does little to find a way through Israel’s yearlong political impasse. Neither Mr. Netanyahu nor Mr. Gantz can currently muster a majority without joining forces, and their parties issued a joint statement on Thursday saying that negotiations for a unity government would continue.

But the step taken by the president, Reuven Rivlin, set a timer: By law, lawmakers have 21 days to come up with a viable government, whether a unity coalition or some other configuration. Failing that, Parliament will automatically disperse on May 7 and, for the fourth time in little over a year, send Israelis back to the ballot box.

The last election, on March 2, produced no clear winner. Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and leader of the conservative Likud party, has beseeched Mr. Gantz, a former army chief who is leader of the centrist Blue and White party, to join him in a national emergency government to contend with the coronavirus crisis.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/world/middleeast/israel-election-gantz-netanyahu.html

[Submariner]

1. They need to wait until our Nov election is over

The Bibi faction clearly wants to annihilate Iran with Trump’s war machine backing him up, and bombing Iran during his 2nd term where unstoppable he would go total f**king Dictator on Nov 4th.

When Trump loses, President Biden will read Bibi the riot act, and his plans for an Iran war will fizzle, and Israel can better decide if Bibi or Gantz should lead imho.