Israel dissolves parliament as Netanyahu fails to form cabinet

Israel faces an unprecedented snap election campaign - the second this year - after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and dissolved parliament instead.

Israel’s newly elected Knesset dissolved itself early on Thursday.

The Knesset voted 74-45 in favor of dissolving itself and setting a new election date for September 17.

It’s a shocking setback from Netanyahu, who had appeared to secure a comfortable win in last month’s election.

But he was unable to build a parliamentary majority to rule because a traditional ally, AvigdorLieberman, refused to bring his Yisrael Beiteinu faction into the coalition.

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Netanyahu, who has led Israel for the past decade, now faces another challenge to his lengthy rule.

It comes as he prepares for a pre-indictment hearing before expected criminal charges against him in a series of corruption cases.