Israel to Hold Snap Elections March 17
Just a day after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed two senior cabinet ministers from his divided government, Israel announced Wednesday that it will hold snap elections March 17, 2015.
It is evident that Netanyahu is in a crisis-management mode and the call for snap polls is an effort on his part to handle the situation.
"After consultations between different parties, it has been decided to hold elections on March 17," Eran Sidis, parliamentary spokesperson, said, adding that the procedure to adopt a law to dissolve parliament would begin on Wednesday, Sky News reports.
Netanyahu, while firing the two ministers from his mostly right-wing coalition, accused them of "acting against the government from within" and hatching a plot to overthrow him.
The two dismissed government workers were Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.
"The firing of ministers is an act of cowardice and loss of control. We are sad to see that the prime minister has chosen to act without consideration for the national interest and to drag Israel to unnecessary elections,'' Lapid said after his dismissal, Al Jazeera reports.
However, a statement from Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying: "I will not tolerate any opposition in my government."
It further stated that the Prime Minister would call for dissolving the parliament at the earliest and look forward to a "clear mandate" from the public so as to lead the nation in peace.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declined to comment on the "internal politics" of Israel. However, he hopes that the new government will help negotiations to take place smoothly.
"But obviously, we hope that whatever government is formed - or whether there are elections, that those elections will produce - the possibility of a government that can negotiate and move towards resolving the differences between Israelis and Palestinians," Kerry said, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The present Israeli government took office in early 2013 and was soon plagued by internal differences that prevented smooth functioning of the government.
