Elections are upon us once again as the 19th Knesset will most likely be dissolved in a second and final vote of the bill on Monday 16 Kislev. This Knesset is not the shortest in history. That title was awarded to the 4 Knesset, which was elected in November 1959. David Ben-Gurion headed the Mapai party which had 47 seats. That coalition broke apart in March 1961 and elections were held in August. The 1st and 17th Knessets also lasted less than three years.
This Knesset, the 19th, ran its course in 22 months, about two years short of completing its term.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein convened will Knesset faction leaders on Wednesday to determine the date. Elections for the 20th Knesset will take place on Tuesday 26 Adar (March 17, 2015). For the chareidi parties, the date of 4 Nissan would have been preferable for it falls during bein hazmanim. However, this is not going to be the case.
On Wednesday, the plenum passed the bill to dissolve the Knesset in its preliminary vote. The second and final votes will take place on Monday 16 Kislev. 84 MKs voted to dissolve the 19th Knesset. No one voted against the bill but there was one abstention.
In Israel’s 66 year history, there have been 66 governments and the nation is now going to elect the 20th Knesset. Of the 66 governments, Binyamin Netanyahu headed three of them and it appears he is headed to stand at the helm of a fourth in the coming months.
The shortest government in history was during the tenure of the 16th Knesset. Prime Minister Golda Meir presented her cabinet in March 1974 and resigned in June 1974 following the announced recommendations of the Agranat Commission, which probed the failures of the period leading to the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
The most likely change, based on polling and assuming no one does something stupid, is that Netanyahu will have to form a coaltion with the hareidim and/or the “center” (non-socialist) block, but this time the center block will be Moshe Kahlon (a recent ex-Likudnik with no radical ideological issues with Netanyahu), rather the Lapid and Livni (who have a long and stormy “history” with Likud).
For the chareidi parties, the date of 4 Nissan would have been preferable I vehemently disagree. Adar is preferable, as it is a time of good Mazol/Fortune and IY’H will portend good Tidings for the religious [parties] at this upcoming election.
I agree with 147, but not for his reasoning.
The argument against having elections during the Zman focuses on the Bitul Torah it will cause. Bitul Torah is an issue also during Bein HaZmanim. It doesn’t say anywhere, that once the clock strikes Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the issur of Bitul Torah fades. Those people that will waste time, will waste it anyway, regardless of when.
However, if elections were held during Bein Hazmanim before Pesach, the wives, who labour intensively for Pesach, would get less help. This could lead to a lack of Shalom Bayis. Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky zt”l held that a lack of Shalom Bayis is to be examined first as the culprit in any communal suffering, before a lack of tznius (he contended that a lack of Shalom Bayis causes a lack of tznius).
Therefore, we would like to obtain Divine favour, which we sorely need in every election, and having elections during intensive Pesach preparation time would be a thorn in that initiative.
BTW, I am certain to be accused by some commenter that I am responding as if I know better than the Gedolim. On the contrary, we haven’t the faintest idea what the Gedolim say, since the Gedolim have no spokesman to speak to the public for them. Anything we hear in shul, at the mikvah, on the bus, etc. of what the Gedolim say, and certainly in the newspaper, and from other media outlets, including YWN, has not the slightest shred of reliability. Since the demise of The Jewish Observer, and there has never been one in Israel, the chasm between what the Gedolim say and what we receive is unbridgeable. The only recourse we have is our local Rav, Rosh Yeshiva, or Mashgiach and if they quote the Gadol HaDor, one has to hope and trust that they got their information from a trustworthy source.