Israeli coalition to dissolve Knesset, with FM Lapid set to replace Bennett as PM

Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday his governing coalition will dissolve parliament next week, a shock announcement that will give power to Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in days and force new elections.

Bennett and Lapid forged an ideologically disparate alliance one year ago, counting eight-parties broadly united on the desire to end the tenure of former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

The coalition of far-right hawks, left-wingers and Palestinian parties temporarily ushered Israel out of an unprecedented era of political gridlock.

But after a series of defections that put the coalition on the brink of collapse, Bennett said he would support a bill to dissolve parliament next week, triggering a fifth election in less than four years with no guarantee of a viable new administration.

Bennett said that Lapid, a centrist, will take over as prime minister of the caretaker government in line with last year's power-sharing deal.

"We made the right decision for Israel," he said.

The move means Lapid is now poised to host US President Joe Biden, who is due to visit Israel in July.

Lapid thanked Bennett for "putting the country before his personal interest", but said the inability of the coalition to survive indicated that Israel "is in need of serious change".

West Bank settler law

Bennett, a religious nationalist, is the former head of a lobby group for illegal Jewish settlers in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since it was illegally invaded in 1967.

His government faced a June 30 deadline to renew a measure that upholds Israeli law in for illegal settlers across the West Bank, where Palestinians are contrastingly subjected to Israeli military rule, which is used to carry out mass human rights abuses against them in the occupied territory, including arbitrary arrests.

Additionally, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.

Two Palestinian lawmakers within the coalition refused earlier this month to re-certify the measure, leaving the coalition, which only controlled 60 votes in Israel's 120-seat parliament, handcuffed.

Bennett, an unswerving supporter of West Bank illegal settlements, said he could not allow the measure to lapse.

The law's expiration would have created "security risks" and "constitutional chaos", he said.

Dissolving the government before the measure expires means it is automatically renewed until a new government is formed.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported new elections would be held on 25 October.