Israeli opposition leaders have brokered a power-sharing agreement that will allow them to form a government and drive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power, one of the top coalition members announced.
“I commit to you, Mr. President, that this government will work to serve all the citizens of Israel, including those who aren’t members of it, will respect those who oppose it and do everything in its power to unite all parts of Israeli society,” Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said in a message to outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
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That notification barely beat a midnight deadline that threatened to doom the emerging coalition, as failure to come to an agreement Wednesday would have shifted the political process to the full Israeli Legislature, in which Netanyahu retains substantial power. Their last-minute success not only ends Netanyahu’s 12-year run at the top of Israeli politics but sets the stage for an intraparty power struggle that could end his career.
“Health Minister Yuli Edelstein plans to challenge Benjamin Netanyahu for the leadership of the Likud party if Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid form a government,” the Times of Israel’s sister site reported this week.
Right-wing Israeli politician Naftali Bennett upended the Israeli political scene Sunday when he announced that he would try to form a government with Lapid’s center-left party. That revelation instigated a round of intense negotiations with potential coalition partners, who sensed a high-pressure opportunity to defeat Netanyahu but who also wanted to use their leverage within the “razor-thin” coalition to improve their political clout. Those various ambitions threatened to doom the project.
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“We had the courage to say that we want to be a legitimate player in Israeli politics, but apparently our declarations won’t bear fruit in the end,” Israeli Arab lawmaker Mazen Ghanaim said earlier Wednesday. “From what is happening in the negotiations behind closed doors, I’m not optimistic.”
Nonetheless, hours later, Lapid had a deal. “I congratulate you and the heads of the parties on your agreement to form a government,” Rivlin told him Wednesday. “We expect the Knesset will convene as soon as possible to ratify the government, as required.”
