Netanyahu Opponent, Yair Lapid, Given 4 Weeks To Form New Government In Israel

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday tapped centrist opposition figure Yair Lapid to try to form a new government, sparking potentially weeks of political negotiations that could break Israel's cycle of inconclusive elections and lead to the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's record-breaking uninterrupted 12-year tenure.

But there are "many difficulties" to forming a new government, Rivlin acknowledged, leaving open the possibility of an unprecedented fifth election in the span of two years.

Netanyahu spent a month trying to form a right-wing governing coalition following March elections, but it required the support of an Arab Islamist party, which one of his ultranationalist Jewish political partners refused to accept.

After Netanyahu failed to assemble a parliamentary majority by a midnight deadline late Tuesday, nearly half the parliament gave its support to Lapid, a 57-year-old former journalist and finance minister who has served in the opposition for the last six years.