Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for early elections in four months during his speech at the Likud convention.
"It is preferable to have a short election campaign of four months that will swiftly return stability to the political ranks," Netanyahu stated, although he did not explicitly mention the September 4 date many have speculated would be the election date.
"Coalition stability has begun to crumble, opening the door to blackmail and populism," Netanyahu stated in justification of early elections. He added that a strong, powerful Likud will bring stability to the country.
Netanyahu touted his government's economic and security achievements, laying out the case for his reelection.
"We can all be proud of the achievements of Israel in the last three years. Just a few years ago, people did not feel safe in Israel and today the situation is different largely because of our policies."
Netanyahu claimed that his government's policies had succeeded in enlisting the world in the mission of stopping Iran's nuclear program.
"Up until 3 years ago Iran continued almost uninterrupted with its nuclear program. Today, in large part because of our actions, the world is enlisted against the Iranian nuclear program."
Netanyahu vowed to keep up the pressure on Iran until the threat was completely eradicated.