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Israel’s Parliament Dissolves, Sets 5th Election in 4 Years

Knesset members participate in the voting session to dissolve the government in the Knesset Plenum, or the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel, 30 June 2022. (EPA)
Knesset members participate in the voting session to dissolve the government in the Knesset Plenum, or the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel, 30 June 2022. (EPA)
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Israel’s Parliament Dissolves, Sets 5th Election in 4 Years

Knesset members participate in the voting session to dissolve the government in the Knesset Plenum, or the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel, 30 June 2022. (EPA)
Knesset members participate in the voting session to dissolve the government in the Knesset Plenum, or the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel, 30 June 2022. (EPA)

Israel’s parliament voted Thursday to dissolve itself and send the country to the polls in November for the fifth time in less than four years.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister and architect of the outgoing coalition government, will become the country’s caretaker prime minister just after midnight on Friday. He will be the 14th person to hold that office, taking over from Naftali Bennett, Israel's shortest serving prime minister.

The government collapsed just over a year after it was formed in a historic move that saw longtime leader Benjamin Netanyahu ousted after 12 years in power by a coalition of ideologically diverse parties, the first to include an Arab faction.

The motion to dissolve passed with 92 lawmakers in favor, and none opposing, after days of bickering by coalition and opposition lawmakers over the date of new elections and other last-minute legislation.

New elections will be held on November 1.

The move brings a formal end to a political experiment in which eight parties from across the Israeli spectrum tried to find common ground after a period of prolonged gridlock in which the country held four elections in two years.

The upcoming elections are an extension of Israel’s protracted political crisis, at the heart of which sits Netanyahu and his ongoing corruption trial. The four deadlocked elections in the previous three years were largely referendums on Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while facing charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.

Lapid, a former talk-show host who heads a center-left party, is expected to campaign as caretaker prime minister to keep the job as the main alternative to Netanyahu, and will likely get an early boost when he welcomes President Joe Biden to the country next week.

Polls by Israeli media show Netanyahu and his allies gaining seats, although it is unclear whether they would have enough to form a 61-seat majority in the 120-member Knesset. If neither he nor anyone else succeeds in doing so, Israel could go to elections yet again.

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Air Tankers Fight Los Angeles Fires from Frantic Skies

Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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Air Tankers Fight Los Angeles Fires from Frantic Skies

Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

In the skies above Los Angeles, air tankers and helicopters silhouetted by the setting California sun dart in and out of giant wildfire plumes, dropping much-needed flame retardant and precious water onto the angry fires below.
Looking in almost any direction from a chopper above the city, AFP reporters witnessed half a dozen blazes -- eruptions of smoldering smoke emerging from the mountainous landscape like newly active volcanoes, and filling up the horizon.
Within minutes, a previously quiet airspace above the nascent Kenneth Fire had become a hotbed of frenzied activity, as firefighting officials quickly refocused their significant air resources on this latest blaze.
Around half a dozen helicopters buzzed at low altitude, tipping water onto the edge of the inferno.
Higher up, small aircraft periodically guided giant tankers that dumped bright-red retardant onto the flames.
"There's never been so many at the same time, just ripping" through the skies, said helicopter pilot Albert Azouz.
Flying for a private aviation company since 2016, he has seen plenty of fires including the deadly Malibu blazes of six years ago.
"That was insane," he recalled.
But this, he repeatedly says while hovering his helicopter above the chaos, is "crazy town."
The new Kenneth Fire burst into life late Thursday afternoon near Calabasas, a swanky enclave outside Los Angeles made famous by its celebrity residents such as reality television's Kardashian clan.
Aircraft including Boeing Chinook helitankers fitted with 3,000-gallon tanks have been brought in from as far afield as Canada.
Unable to fly during the first few hours of the Los Angeles fires on Tuesday due to gusts of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour, these have become an invaluable tool in the battle to contain blazes and reduce any further devastation.
Helicopters performed several hundred drops on Thursday, while conditions permitted.
Those helicopters equipped to operate at night continued to buzz around the smoke-filled region, working frantically to tackle the flames, before stronger gusts are forecast to sweep back in to the Los Angeles basin overnight.