Publications

In late 2014, the Israeli domestic picture changed dramatically as a result of the disbanding of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government and the Knesset’s decision to dissolve itself and hold general elections on March 17, 2015. Early elections prior to the conclusion of the Knesset’s legal term in office is nothing new in Israel and is actually typical of the past two decades. The forthcoming early elections, however, constitute a particularly unusual phenomenon on the Israeli political landscape, as the dissolution of the Knesset after less than two years in office (the 19th Knesset was supposed to remain in office for four and a half years, until the fall of 2017) demonstrates an increasingly serious problem of governance that calls Israel’s political stability into question. According to all the polls and surveys, the majority of the Israeli public opposed the disbanding of the government and the call for new elections, particularly due to the slim chances of an improvement in the basis of governance in the next Knesset as well, regardless of the outcome of the elections.