European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook 58: 143–148, 2019 143 doi: 10.1111/2047-8852.12266 Israel: Political Development and Data for 2018 EMMANUEL NAVON 1 & ABRAHAM DISKIN 2 1 Tel Aviv University and Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya,Israel; 2 The Academic Center of Science and Law, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Introduction In 2018, Israel held municipal elections and the Knesset dissolved itself. The coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu shrank to a razor-thin majority following the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman over a controversial ceasefre reached with Hamas after a barrage of rockets fred from the Gaza Strip. Israel was challenged by Hamas in the south (border trespassing, missiles and incendiary devices), by Hezbollah in the north (tunnels), by Iran’s growing military presence in Syria and by recurrent terrorist attacks in the West Bank. At the same time, its international relations and economy continued to improve. Police investigations of the prime minister over suspicions of corruption and breach of trust continued to make headlines. Election report Israel held municipal elections in October (with a runoff in November for candidates who did not get 40 percent of the vote) for its 77 cities, 124 local councils and 54 regional councils. In Jerusalem, Moshe Lion (endorsed by the Likud party) won with a narrow majority of 50.85 percent in the runoff against Ofer Berkowitz, a young and independent candidate. In Tel Aviv, the incumbent Ron Huldai (Labour Party) was re-elected with 46.86 percent of the vote. In Haifa, the incumbent Yona Yahav (endorsed by the centrist Yesh Atid party) was defeated by Einat Kalisch-Rotem (endorsed by the Labour Party) with 56.21 percent of the vote. Kalish-Rotem became the frst female mayor of one of Israel’s three largest cities. The Knesset, which was elected in March 2015, was dissolved on 26 December (see Cabinet report below). Cabinet report In November, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned from the government to protest what he called a humiliating ceasefre between Israel and Hamas. As Lieberman pulled his ‘Israel Beitenu’ party from the coalition government,Prime Minister Netanyahu’s parliamentary majority shrank from 66 to 61 (out of 120 Knesset seats). Netanyahu originally vowed to maintain his coalition despite its razor-thin majority, but he eventually called (in December) a snap election scheduled for 9 April 2019. C  2019 European Consortium for Political Research Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd