On Thursday, the Israeli opposition leader moved closer to ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by announcing an agreement to form a new government with a coalition of politically diverse allies. However, the fragile coalition, which will have a small majority in the Knesset, is not expected to be sworn in for another ten to twelve days, providing Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history, an opportunity to try to sway parliament members against it.
About 35 minutes before the deadline at midnight on Wednesday, Yair Lapid from the centrist camp sent an email to President Reuven Rivlin stating, “I am honored to inform you that I have succeeded in forming a government.”
According to the coalition formation agreement, nationalist politician Naftali Bennett (49 years old), a former defense minister and millionaire, will serve as prime minister first for two years, before handing over the position to Lapid (57 years old), a former television host and former finance minister.
This agreement follows the March 23 elections, where neither Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party nor the opposition won a majority. This was Israel's fourth general election in two years.
The coalition includes small to medium-sized parties from various political streams, including, for the first time in Israel's history, the United Arab List, which represents the Arab minority that makes up 21% of the population.
These diverse parties have no common ground other than the desire to remove Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges that he denies but have cast a shadow over his continuous tenure of 12 years.
The coalition includes Bennett's Yamina party, the center-left Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz, the left-wing Meretz and Labor parties, as well as Avigdor Lieberman's nationalist Israel Beiteinu party and Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party, which separated from Likud.
