Yesh Atid calls for early elections

Three days after an opinion poll showing a tie with the governing Likud party, the Yesh Atid party calls for the Knesset to be dissolved and for early elections to be set, saying the current government has “ceased to work for the sake of the public.”

The call by the centrist party comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition faces vicious disagreements within its ranks over a bill to prevent settlements built on private land from being demolished if they were built with state assistance.

“The citizens of Israel deserve more,” a press release from the party repeats four times in a possible precursor to an election slogan.

“The government of Israel is entirely self-involved with its own political rifts and anything but what is important to the citizens of Israel,” the statement reads. “There have been no substantive discussions in any government body over where the country is heading: Not in the economic, social, diplomatic or security realms.”

— Raoul Wootliff