TEL AVIV, Israel—The country is heading to a fourth general election in two years as parliament dissolved itself on Tuesday, triggering the collapse of a seven-month-old right-center government helmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
The proximate cause was the government’s failure to pass a state budget, which by law triggers new elections; an eleventh-hour extension was voted down in parliament late Monday with help from renegade members of Netanyahu’s own right-wing Likud party and Gantz’s centrist Blue and White faction. Election Day is tentatively scheduled for late March.
