• Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, Conte's former coalition partner, Italy’s interior minister and leader of the far-right League party, has been demanding fresh elections and could soon claim the prime minister’s office for himself.

Why it matters: Italy has seen 16 leaders take power in the last 30 years. If Salvini is the 17th, Italy's crisis could spread far beyond its borders.

How we got here:

• The League and the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement were the big winners from Italy’s 2018 elections. They formed an uneasy ruling partnership, with Conte plucked as a compromise prime minister.
• The parties almost immediately clashed with one another, and with the EU. Proposals from both would further inflate Italy’s massive public debt, provoking threats and pleas from Brussels.
• Salvini made his move on Aug. 8, calling for the government to break apart. Polls suggest the fiercely anti-immigrant League and a right-wing ally could likely form a majority government. However, his far-right party is still facing questions over a campaign finance scandal involving Russian funds.

What to watch: Salvini may have miscalculated.

• With Conte’s resignation, President Sergio Mattarella will now have to determine whether a stable government can be formed or fresh elections are needed. One possibility would see 5 Star and the center-left Democratic Party join together and expel the League from government.

The big picture: Italian politics are famously volatile, but the stakes here are high for Europe and for the global economy.

• Salvini has floated an exit from the euro. Even short of that drastic step, the looming debt crisis is a greater source of concern even than Brexit for many in Brussels.

What they're saying:

• Conte called Salvini "irresponsible" and said he didn't commit himself to "the government's good work" because "he was too focused on looking for an excuse to pull the plug on it."
• Salvini said he would do everything over again: "I am a free man. I am not afraid of the judgment of Italians."
• Matteo Renzi, a former prime minister, called for a government of national unity: "Populism has failed in this country."

The bottom line: Conte has lasted 14 months as prime minister. That’s not a particularly short tenure by Italian standards.

"I can't even believe that we're having this conversation. Five years ago, the concept of even talking about this, even three years ago, of cutting off aid to Israel because of two people that hate Israel and hate Jewish people. I can't believe we're having this conversation. Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone that they're defending these two people over the state of Israel? I think that any Jewish people who vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

Why it matters: 79% of Jewish-Americans voted for Democrats in the 2018 midterms, according to Pew Research Center.

Driving the news: Following pressure from President Trump, Reps. Omar and Tlaib were barred by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from visiting Israel last week over their support for the BDS movement, which advocates a boycott of the state of Israel over its government's treatment of Palestinians. Trump publicly encouraged the ban on Twitter, saying that the congresswomen "hate Israel & all Jewish people, and there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds."

Flashback: Trump told RNC donors in March that "the Democrats hate Jewish people," referring to the controversy over Omar's past comments about Israel. The president said he didn't understand how any Jew could vote for a Democrat these days, per Axios' Jonathan Swan.

• Republicans and some Democrats accused Omar of exploiting an anti-Semitic stereotype that Jewish-Americans hold a "dual loyalty" to a foreign country. Omar "unequivocally" apologized for the comments.
• It's unclear to whom Trump thinks Jewish-Americans who vote Democrat are "disloyal" — but his comments have prompted accusations that he's exploiting the same anti-Semitic "dual loyalty" trope that Omar apologized for in February.

Go deeper: Trump builds 2020 support with Republican Jewish Coalition