Israel faces fresh polls as Netanyahu fails to form government

After Prime Minister Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition by the deadline, the Knesset voted Wednesday night to dissolve itself and hold an election once again, just seven weeks after the previous one.

Israelis will return to the polls on September 17, two weeks before Netanyahu's pre-indictment hearing on a series of corruption charges against him on October 2 and 3.

Labor, though, will hold a primary once again.

The election, Israel’s second this year after an April 9 poll in which Netanyahu claimed victory, means unprecedented upheaval even for a country used to political infighting.

“We will win,” Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, vowed after parliament voted for a fresh election when the deadline expired for him to assemble his fifth government.

Hadash Chairman Ayman Odeh said Thursday morning that the Knesset's two Arab parties, Hadash-Ta'al and United Arab List-Balad, may reunite. Odeh told Army Radio that the parties will meet next week to make the decision.

He also said that low voter turnout among Israel's Arabs was caused by the parties' split - they ran as the Joint List in 2015 - and a general lack of hope. Odeh added that if Benny Gantz's Kahol Lavan party "will understand that they need to deliver an alternative, there's a chance there might be a different government."

Union of Right-Wing Parties MK Bezalel Smotrich, meanwhile, is negotiating a joint ticket with Ayelet Shaked, whose Hayamin Hehadash party failed to reach the electoral threshold in April. The move comes after rumors that Shaked was negotiating with Likud.