Following several weeks of increasing tensions in Israel, as relations with Palestine worsened, unrest intensified in Jerusalem and parliamentary alliances unravelled, the Israeli parliament voted unanimously on Monday in support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call to dissolve parliament and stage early elections. Last week, Mr Netanyahu spoke of a coalition that was "forced" upon him and announced his desire to "regain the trust of the people".
Having held office for six years, Mr Netanyahu is the second-longest serving Israeli leader in the history of the nation, and the prospect of a fourth term is not beyond the realm of possibility. While the centrist Yesh Atid coalition party that the prime minister was so keen to rid parliament of last week called him a coward after the news conference, Mr Netanyahu retained widespread support during the 50-day war in Gaza during mid-2014, and most polls still reaffirm the security-based, pro-Netanyahu sentiment of Israeli voters.
Mr Netanyahu also started on the right foot when he launched his election campaign on Tuesday, as he chose to focus upon the other most pressing issue on the minds of Israelis besides Palestine: finances. The high cost of living and affordable housing shortage that brought people out onto Israeli streets in 2011 was tackled by Netanyahu in an economic conference on Monday, when he committed to removing the value-added tax (VAT) from food staples and the doubling of the grant for demobilized soldiers.
However, not everyone is so enthusiastic to vote yes to Netanyahu at the snap elections scheduled for March 2015. According to the Jewish Journal's Shmuel Rosner, who wrote an op-ed for the New York Times on Tuesday, Netanyahu has been "heavy on the blame-sharing and short on soul-searching" since the early election was called, and "many of his supporters would admit that Israel today does not feel in better shape" than when he assumed office in 2008. On the same day, Ben Caspit, in the Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper, wrote that the prime minister is "responsible for the collapse of the middle class in Israel."