Israel opposition seals government deal ending Netanyahu era

JERUSALEM – At the end of the deadline set by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, the opposition managed to form a majority alliance in parliament to form a government and remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 consecutive years in power.

“The government will do all it can unite and unify all sectors of Israeli societyLapid told President Rivlin, informing him that he had reached the number of seats needed in parliament to assume power, according to the newspaper. Haaretz.

The Arab Raam party, led by Islamist Mansour Abbas, formalized its support for the coalition project on Wednesday evening, removing one of the last obstacles to the formation of a new government. Abbas “signed the coalition agreement to form a government of national unity”, said in a statement the office of Stoned, who had until midnight to announce to the Israeli president that he had a majority to form a government.

The political situation in Israel became uncertain after the March 21 elections, in which no candidate was able to secure 61 seats, the majority in Parliament with 120 seats. Netanyahu’s Likud added 30 seats and Lapid’s Yesh Atid added 17.

The Prime Minister failed in his attempt to form a government alliance to the order was transferred to Lapid.

The new 62-seat coalition then brought together the 17 deputies of Yesh Atid, the 8 of Kajol Lavan of Benny Gantz, 7 of the right-wing religious force of Naftali Bennett, 7 of the moderate left Ha Avoda, 7 of Israel Beiteinu of the center-right of Avigdor Lieberman, 6 from Meretz, 6 from centrist Nueva Esperanza and 4 from Raam.

Opposition negotiations brought together teams of senior leaders from the left, center and part of the right for three days, including Yamina, Bennett’s force, who would be rotating prime minister with Lapid.

Abbas’s party and Israel’s other Arab group, the Joint List, received all the attention as the anti-Netanyahu opposition lacked just four backers to reach the 61 MPs needed to form a government.

In the past, Abbas has declared himself ready to negotiate with anyone who cares about the Palestinian Israeli community, which represents about 20% of Israel’s population.

The coalition is so heterogeneous that disagree on almost every issue, from the relationship with the Palestinians, economic recovery or the place of religion. Their only common point is the desire to oust Netanyahu, who came to power 25 years ago and reigned from 1996 to 1999 before being re-elected in 2009, since he was prime minister.

The prime minister is on trial for “corruption” in three cases, making him the first head of the Israeli government to face criminal charges during his tenure.

Now Lapid will have seven days to officially distribute the wallets and get a vote of confidence in parliament. According to the Israeli press, the speaker of parliament, Yariv Levin, a colleague of Netanyahu, could be tempted to delay the vote of confidence in the hope that the anti-Netanyahu agreement would be broken at that time.

If the Prime Minister leaves office, he will become a private member of Parliament and lose his influence in an attempt to pass a law that protects him from his legal problems.

AFP and AP agencies

THE NATION

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