- Israel took one step closer Tuesday,

to another round of possible elections,

when alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz,

said he would vote todissolve the Knesset today.

He criticized PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu,

and said only he could keepthe nation from elections.

- Netanyahu...

- [Interpreter] Netanyahu,the burden of proof is on you.

Bring the budget to thegovernment immediately,

make sure it will passand promise the unity

you only know to talk aboutin front of the cameras.

- Netanyahu lashed back atGantz saying Gantz violated

the coalition agreements.

The Knesset has to vote three times

to dissolve the government.

But if a budget is notpassed by December 23rd,

Israelis will automaticallygo to their fourth election

in just two years.

Our CBN News Middle EastBureau Chief, Chris Mitchell,

is joining us now from Jerusalem.

So Chris, tell us about thevote today, what does it mean?

- Well, as you said Efrem, itis the first of three votes

to dissolve the Knesset.

Now the Knesset has a choice,they can fast track it,

or it could take it upto a couple of weeks

for this to happen.

What Gantz is happening rightnow, he's sending a signal

to Netanyahu that he doesn'twant any political tricks,

that's why he said, in thecamera he's saying unity,

but behind the scenes it's something else.

And he's saying that he'sthe one that can control

and avoid elections.

He's also accusing Netanyahu,he's trying to keep himself

from the upcoming trialsfor fraud, bribery

and breach of trust, whichcomes up early next year.

And as you said, the realdeadline is on December 23rd,

that's when the budget is due.

If it's not passed by then, then by law,

Israel will have to go

to their fourth election in two years.

You know someone said today Efrem,

that the most permanent aspect

of this particulargovernment is uncertainty,

and ever since has beenformed, several months ago,

it really has been teetering

almost like a housedivided against itself.

All these happening whilethe coronavirus is going on.

And that was the reason for the whole idea

of a unity government wasto combat the coronavirus.

Right now Efrem, one in five Israelis

suffer from depression here,

and they're saying that we could be

on the beginning of actually a third wave

of the coronaviruspandemic here in Israel.

- You mentioned uncertainty,if Israel does go to elections,

could there be a surprise?

- Yeah, there would be andthe way I see it Efrem,

is a man named NaftaliBennett, he's the head

of what's called theYamina or the Right Party,

usually in the last few elections,

he had six, seven, maybe eight seats.

But now polling, he'schallenging Netanyahu

and the Likud party.

Some of the polls havehad them over 20 seats

in the Knesset.

What that would do presenta real possible challenge

to Netanyahu in the nextelections, whenever they do occur,

he doesn't have the legalclouds hanging over his head.

And many Israelis likedthe way that he handled

the coronavirus when hewas in the government,

just at the last of the last government,

he was the defense minister.

When he got out, he had proposals

that a lot of people did like.

And so if the government does fall,

if they go to new elections,

perhaps that would be nextMarch, if it really does happen,

I think the surprisewould be Naftali Bennet

and his party, Yamina.

- So Chris, how could all ofthis affect peace agreements

we know now as the Abraham Accords?

- Well, actually I thinkit may not affect it

quite as much as you may think,

because I think Israelis allover the political spectrum,

they think that the AbrahamAccords are actually quite good.

In fact, just today, therewas a delegation from Bahrain,

they met with the tourism minister,

they have a memorandum of understanding

about joint tourismbetween Israel and Bahrain.

I think the main thingthat would happen Efrem,

would be what would happenwith the Biden administration.

So if the Biden administration came in,

I think that would haveprobably a profound impact

on the Abraham Accords.

And the other thing that apossible Biden administration

would have, would be onthe Iranian nuclear deal.

We've talked about that before.

The idea there is thatthey would try to reenter

the Iranian nuclear deal

and have some sort ofarrangement with Iran.

The Trump administration,obviously they pulled out of it

two years ago and they seeIran, it really deplishes

about the way they'vehandled the nuclear deal.

So as far as the Abraham Accords,

I don't think it would affect too much

if they go to elections, but certainly

if the Biden administration comes in,

that will be a game changer,

I think here in the Middle East.

- All right, ChrisMitchell, thank you so much,

we're watching that vote today for sure.

We much appreciate your time.