After a row over military service ended Netanyahu’s efforts to form a government, Israelis speak of the resentments behind the crisis

It’s Thursday night at the Mahane Yehuda market in west Jerusalem, where the music is thumping and the drinks are flowing. When a bottle breaks, the crowds erupt with a chorus of “mazel tov”, or congratulations.

But as some ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in traditional black suits, side locks, and thick skullcaps pass by, Ad Shamsi’s face sours. “What do they have to do here?” asks the 56-year-old Jewish Israeli, who is kicking off the weekend at an outside bar.

Avigdor Lieberman was Netanyahu’s loyal lieutenant – but now he has left the PM exposed to the electorate and the courts

Israeli politics is in meltdown as the country heads towards its second election within six months. The ramifications of such turmoil for the country and the region are huge – but none of this needed to happen. That it has is down to the frantic efforts of Benjamin Netanyahu to stave off three looming corruption charges.

The Israeli prime minister’s desire to avoid a criminal trial is why he called an otherwise unnecessary April election in the first place. And it is why, when he failed to assemble a rightwing coalition by Wednesday’s midnight deadline, the man soon to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister persuaded his malleable Likud parliamentarians to back a bill to dissolve the Knesset – instead of allowing president Reuven Rivlin to entrust another candidate with the task of trying to form a government.

Knesset votes to dissolve parliament after Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form new government

Israel’s parliament has voted to dissolve itself after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government, in a move that will lead to a second round of elections just one month after the country held a national poll.

At a suspenseful gathering that ended weeks of unsuccessful bartering and brinkmanship, the Knesset voted to disperse and call new elections, set for 17 September.

Israeli PM has until midnight to form government but no breakthrough in sight

Benjamin Netanyahu has until midnight to form a new ruling coalition or face the possible end of his decade of leadership of Israel.

As the hours ticked by, there was no sign of a breakthrough in talks with the far-right former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman. Missing the deadline could end the prime minister’s bid to lead the next government, a scenario he intends to avoid by preemptively triggering another election.