Shas Party Chairman Aryeh Deri has responded to news of the Knesset's dissolution by saying that Chairman Avigdor Liberman of the Yisrael Beytenu Party and senior member Yair Lapid of the Blue and White Party caused the failure to form a government and the need to hold new elections "out of political considerations and settling scores with the prime minister."
Interviewed by the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, the interior minister explained, "Yisrael Beytenu is angry about the investigation against them and Lapid about his dismissal as finance minister. "The right-wing bloc has more than 61 seats. Unfortunately, many internal struggles and ego in the bloc have meant that we have not received 61 seats. I hope this time they will exercise common sense in the religious-national public to make order and run together."