2018–2022 Israeli political crisis
The 2018–2022 Israeli political crisis was a period of political instability in Israel, in which five Knesset snap elections were held in a span of less than four years: in April 2019, September 2019, March 2020, March 2021 and November 2022.
For more information on governmental negotiations throughout the first three elections in the crisis, see Thirty-fifth government of Israel.Date
26 December 2018 – 29 December 2022
(4 years and 3 days)
Difficulties in forming and retaining
a stable majority governing coalition
- Fall of the 35th and 36th governments
- Victory of the Netanyahu supporters in the election of the 25th Knesset and formation of the 37th government
In the early phase of the crisis, the popular phrasing of the core division within the parties and the public was "only Bibi" (nickname for Benjamin Netanyahu) or "only not Bibi". This stalemate was created due to the refusal of the liberal wing of the parliament to form a coalition with Netanyahu, while the Likud party – the prominent party of the conservative wing – refused to remove Netanyahu from the party's leadership. The rest of the conservative-wing parties refused to form a coalition without Netanyahu and the Likud. None of the wings were able to form a coalition by themselves, due to the tie-breaking parliament seats held by the Arab parties. Some parliament members from Jewish parties (both wings) and Arab parties had considered the possibility of governmental cooperation to be out of the question.
The first two elections of the crisis in April and September 2019 failed to produce a governing coalition, and the third election in March 2020 led to a unity government led by Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, before it was dissolved in December of that year, triggering a fourth election in March 2021. The 2021 election resulted in the thirty-sixth government of Israel, a diverse coalition of parties with various ideologies that was led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, but it was dissolved in June 2022. A fifth election in November of that year saw the victory of the right-wing bloc, returning Netanyahu to lead the thirty-seventh government of Israel.
Background[edit]
During the 20th Knesset, elected after the 2015 Israeli legislative election, Benjamin Netanyahu secured his fourth term in office as the head of the thirty-fourth government of Israel. On 26 May 2016, Yisrael Beiteinu joined the government, with 5 MKs, and Avigdor Lieberman was appointed Defense Minister in place of Moshe Ya'alon.
On 14 November 2018, Lieberman resigned from his position and from the coalition in protest at the government's approval of a ceasefire with Hamas after two days of clashes, thereby undermining the stability of the government.[1] On 26 December, the law to dissolve the Knesset was approved, and the election campaign for the twenty-first Knesset began.[2]