(JP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition decided Monday to disperse the Knesset this week and initiate an early general election in April 9th. Netanyahu boasted to his Likud faction that his coalition will last four years, since the last election in March 2015. He listed key diplomatic, security and economic accomplishments and said he could not initiate the election before,
because he wanted to first complete destroying tunnels on the Lebanese border in Operation Northern Shield. “With God’s help, we will win,” said Netanyahu, who vowed to form the same coalition after the election. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein summoned the party heads to formalize the process of dispersing the Knesset and initiating the election. The announcement came shortly after Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said he would vote against the Defense Ministry’s bill to enlist haredim into the IDF. READ MORE