Israel to hold new elections

AKIPRESS.COM - Israel will hold new national elections in late summer after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to put together a coalition government from the parties elected to parliament on April 9th, CNN reports.
It's the first time in Israel's history that a general election has failed to produce a government.
The new elections, scheduled for September 17th, are the result of a bill to dissolve parliament introduced into the Knesset earlier this week.
The bill had its third reading shortly after midnight local time and was passed into law by Knesset members by 74 to 45, just moments after Netanyahu's deadline to form a government expired.
Less than two months after what seemed like a clear victory for Netanyahu in the April 9th elections, the long-time Israeli leader backed a move to dissolve the 21st Knesset, in a last-ditch attempt to break deadlocked negotiations between the parties.
Talks had become stuck over a proposed draft law, which would conscript more ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth into the military. The ultra-Orthodox parties demanded changes to the bill, while former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman wanted it passed with no changes at all.
Netanyahu, who has handled difficult coalition negotiations in the past, was unable to broker a compromise between the parties.