Israeli government in crisis mode

The Israeli ruling coalition government may face early elections after the defense minister resigned this week and leaders failed to reach an agreement on his successor. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main coalition partner, The Jewish Home party, said Friday it wants a vote “as soon as possible.” The announcement came after Netanyahu met with Naftali Bennett, the party’s education minister, who threatened to quit the coalition if he did not receive the post of defense minister. The previous minister, Avigdor Lieberman, resigned over Israel’s latest cease-fire with the Hamas militant group in Gaza, calling it an “utter capitulation to terrorism.”

Bennett’s departure from the coalition would leave it short of the 61 minimum seats required to hold a majority in Parliament. A national election was previously slated for November 2019. In a statement after the meeting, a spokesman for Netanyahu’s Likud party said the leader will meet on Sunday with coalition leaders, saying, “He relies on the ministers’ responsibility not to make a historic mistake in toppling a right-wing government.”