Unable to cobble together a coalition that would preserve his hold on power, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is betting that new elections will result in a more favorable landscape in the Knesset. Netanyahu, Israel's incumbent and prime minister-designate, failed to form a coalition by a May 29 deadline, coming up one seat short of securing a majority in the 120-member parliament following elections in April. And with Netanyahu unwilling to allow Israel's president to ask a rival to step in to try to form a government, he decided to use his Likud party's current dominance in the Knesset to dissolve parliament and call new elections for Sept. 17, marking the first time in Israel's history that such an impasse has occurred, as well as the first time the country will face two snap polls in one calendar year.
The political drama shines a spotlight on several critical issues underlying domestic...
