On June 20, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced their intention to dissolve the Knesset, teeing up the fifth round of elections in four years and setting the state on a course for the formation of a new government. Until the elections, Yair Lapid will serve as Interim Prime Minister while parties attempt to cobble together another governing coalition, including, perhaps, one that sees former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reclaim his former post. Jonathan Schachter, a Senior Fellow with Hudson Institute’s Peace and Security in the Middle East and a former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, joins Mike to discuss what to expect from the upcoming elections, how Israeli foreign policy, especially with respect to Iran, might change, and the significance of President Joe Biden’s impending trip to Saudi Arabia.
About Counterbalance:
Counterbalance is a foreign policy podcast that embodies Hudson’s tradition of challenging conventional wisdom. The Trump era attacked the elite consensus regarding several key issues, including the rise of China, American policy toward the Middle East, and the compartmentalization of domestic and foreign policy. Many observers in the media and in establishment foreign policy circles are presenting the advent of a Biden presidency as a total repudiation of President Trump’s policies and a return to “normalcy.” But, regardless of how one feels about the Trump era or any of his specific policies, there is no turning back the clock. The elite foreign policy consensus will never be the same. Counterbalance will reckon with what’s next.