Israel's prime minister is stepping down, sparking a new round of elections

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/20/ [login to see] /israel-coalition-collapse-bennett-netanyahu
Israel's most diverse government in history, formed for the first time with an Arab political party, is disbanding over a disagreement about the future of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says he will step down after lawmakers hold a vote to dissolve parliament next week, and centrist Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will take over as prime minister. Elections are likely to take place in October.

It will be Israel's fifth round of elections in just over three years, and the country's polarizing former leader Benjamin Netanyahu will try to return to power once again.

"We did everything we could to preserve this government," Bennett said in a live televised address Monday. "Believe me, we turned over every stone."

In the middle of Bennett's speech, the room suddenly went dark as the lights went out for a moment.

"How symbolic," Lapid said in the microphone.