Netanyahu had met the education minister, Naftali Bennett, who wanted the defense ministry post, but the meeting ended with a decision by cabinet members to hold elections, which were previously due in November 2019, the Guardian reported.
A source close to Bennett said that at the end of the cabinet discussion it became clear that “there was a need to go to elections as soon as possible with no possibility of continuing the current government”.
Netanyahu’s office said he would attempt to preserve the administration, but that looked unlikely after he lost support from Bennett’s Jewish Home party.
A statement released by the prime minister’s office said “the rumors that a decision to go to elections had been made were incorrect”. It added that Netanyahu had “stressed the importance of making every effort to preserve (the ruling coalition)”.
However, if Bennett’s Jewish Home party leaves the coalition, as it suggested it would, it has the ability to force a new election. Netanyahu’s coalition has 61 seats in the 120-member Knesset so the withdrawal of Jewish Home, which has eight seats, could bring down the ruling coalition if a no-confidence motion is called.
Another party could be brought into the coalition, but opposition figures have already declared their intention to run against Netanyahu, whose 11 years in office make him Israel’s longest-serving prime minister after David Ben-Gurion.