Israel’s parliament voted early Thursday morning to dissolve itself and hold a second early election after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to put together a coalition government.
The lawmakers voted 74-45 to break up and hold a new vote on Sept. 17.
Netanyahu had a midnight deadline to form a new government after winning the April 9 election. He was hoping to form a coalition between his conservative Likud party, ultra-Orthodox lawmakers and another conservative bloc led by former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
WATCH: New Elections for Israel After Netanyahu Fails to Build Coalition
But the talks fell apart when Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox refused to heed Lieberman’s demands that ultra-religious Jews be drafted into the Israeli army and serve just like other young Israeli men and women are required to do.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews consider military conscription a violation of their religious beliefs, fearing that military service will lead to secularization. But such exemptions from military service are widely resented by other Israeli Jews.
“Everything stands in the same place where it was,” Lieberman said, while Netanyahu said he was confident his Likud party would win again in September.
“We will run a sharp, clear election campaign, which will bring us victory. We will win, and the public will win,” Netanyahu said after the parliamentary vote.
Opposition leader Benny Gantz — who lost to Netanyahu in April and most likely would have been given a chance to form a government had parliament not dissolved — angrily accused Netanyahu of being more concerned about his own political future instead of what was good for the country.
Gantz said Israel was in for “three crazy months” of another political campaign costing millions of dollars.
He also called Netanyahu “legally incapacitated” because of possible corruption charges.
Netanyahu had been hopeful a new parliament would approve legislation granting him immunity.
Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, reached a plea bargain Wednesday in a separate corruption case. She agreed to pay $15,215 in a reimbursement and a fine for spending almost $100,000 in state funds on catered meals at the prime minister’s residence while concealing the fact that the residence also employed a cook.
…