Israel moved closer toward holding a third election in less than a year on Wedne...
JERUSALEM - Israel moved closer toward holding a third election in less than a year on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main challenger failed to form a government.
There now begins a 21-day period in which Israeli lawmakers can nominate any one of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers to try and establish a coalition where others have failed. For Netanyahu, not securing a fifth term as prime minister also has legal implications: It may increase his vulnerability to possible indictment on corruption charges.
Gantz, a former general who heads the Blue and White party, has made much of Netanyahu’s legal woes, portraying himself as a unifying centrist figure. Netanyahu has sought to cast Gantz as a dovish novice who is not up to the task of running Israel’s economy and statecraft alone.Netanyahu issued a last-gasp appeal to Gantz to compromise, telling rightist factions that, even among its closest allies, Israel was “becoming a joke” due to its political turmoil.
One potential kingmaker, Avigdor Lieberman, declined to back either Netanyahu or Gantz as the deadline neared.
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