Israel’s new leader, Yair Lapid, has four months to prove himself

or fanfare, not even a formal swearing in, Yair Lapid became Israel’s 14th prime minister at midnight on June 30th. His predecessor, Naftali Bennett, who took office a year ago, now holds the dubious title of having had the briefest ever stint as the country’s leader. But Mr Lapid will struggle to stay even for that long. He took office hours after Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted to dissolve itself, scheduling a general election for November 1st, its fifth in under four years. Mr Lapid, aged 58, was the architect of the coalition that imploded on June 20th after barely a year’s rule. He had cobbled together eight disparate parties, including for the first time an independent Arab party, ending Binyamin Netanyahu’s 12 years in power. Though he led the coalition’s largest party, Mr Lapid agreed to cede the first half of the term to Mr Bennett. Under the terms of their deal, he replaces him as prime minister until after the election—and perhaps longer if he wins it.