The Israeli Knesset will be dissolved as soon as Wednesday and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will become Israel’s 14th prime minister after the coalition led by Naftali Bennett narrowly survived two votes of no confidence in parliament on Monday.

Lapid is set to take office just weeks before US president Joe Biden makes his first visit to the country.

The coalition leaders had originally planned to introduce legislation to dissolve parliament on Monday next week, but a spokesperson for Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy said late on Monday night that the coalition would likely bring it forward to Wednesday in a bid to prevent opposition leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from forming an alternative government.

The political earthquake comes after the Israeli government coalition survived two votes of no confidence in the Knesset on Monday afternoon by a vote of 57-52, in spite of rebellions in the coalition. 

This will be the fifth time that Israelis have gone to the polls since 2019. 

This also means that Naftali Bennett will be the shortest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, lasting 12 months and one week. 

The move sets the stage for former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a return after languishing in opposition following the coalition’s victory just over a year ago.

Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud party, said in a video posted to social media on Monday night: “This is an evening of great news for millions of citizens.

“After a year of a determined campaign by the opposition in the Knesset, with great suffering in the Israeli public, it is clear to everyone that the most wretched government in the history of the country has reached an end.

“My friends and I will form a broad national government led by Likud.”

Sources close to Bennett told the Jerusalem Post that the aim of dissolving the Knesset was to trigger an election on their own terms and avoid being forced out early by Netanyahu.

A general election is expected to take place at the end of October, given legal and religious holiday limitations.