Netanyahu finished as prime minister – coalition has formed a new government in Israel – VG

The leader of the right-wing nationalist alliance Yamina, Naftali Bennett, will take over as prime minister from Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to the plan, Yair Lapid, leader of the center party Yesh Atid and former opposition leader, will take over the job after two years.

– I promise that this government will work in the service of all Israeli citizens, those who voted for it and those who did not. It will respect its opponents and do everything in its power to unite and connect all sections of Israeli society, writes Lapid on Twitter.

The government is ready after several days of intense work to form a coalition consisting of eight parties from all sides of Israeli politics.

– There is such a big gap inside that Lapid wants more than enough to sit still in the boat so it does not tip over. I have little faith that this will survive particularly long, says historian and professor at the University of Oslo, Hilde Henriksen Waage.

The leader of the United Arab List, Mansour Abbas, is said to have been the last party leader to sign the coalition agreement, thus approving that the president of Israel could be informed that a new government was ready.

“We agreed to form a government after reaching agreement on critical issues that benefit the Arab community,” Abbas told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Transfer Haaretz elaborates Abbas by saying that it applies to areas such as education, health, job security, development and economic development, but also recognition of the Bedouin villages in the Negev.

– This is the first time an Arab party is in a government. We hope that the whole process will be successful after four elections. We want to form a government that will serve all the people of Israel, including the Arab people, so we have to make a difficult choice. There are many disagreements and we understand that, but we must come to a general agreement.

– Difficult to take it seriously

Those who now form a government have little in common politically.

– This is an unusually motley bunch with only one common agreement, to get rid of Netanyahu, says Henriksen Waage.

– It is difficult to imagine that this will be a lasting government in Israel. It is simply difficult to take it seriously.

Netanyahu has been Prime Minister of Israel since 2009, and was also Prime Minister for three years from 1996 to 1999.

He has been under investigation for corruption since 2016, and was in 2019 charged with breach of trust, bribery and fraud. He has denied all charges. Waage has little faith that Netanyahu will go free.

– Now he has to appear in court and risks being convicted of the corruption charge. The crown of the work of his prime ministerial act may end up in prison. The Israeli judiciary is ruthless and has convicted other prime ministers before, she says.

According to the AP Netanyahu is desperate to stay in the job while on trial, as he has used his position to rally supporters and outcasts against police, prosecutors and the media.

A state in disintegration

The Liberal Party Yesh Atid received earlier in May on behalf of the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin to make an attempt to form a government, after Netanyahu had not succeeded.

– What is sad is that Israel was from 1948 a well-functioning democracy and welfare state for its Jewish inhabitants, with a good structure at the helm. Now we see a state and an administration almost completely disintegrating. After the fourth attempt, it is not possible to find a viable government, says Henriksen Waage.

The deadline to form a government expired on Wednesday night, and Yesh Atid’s leader Lapid handed over the contract to President Rivlin just minutes before the deadline expired.

Watch Lapid call Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to tell him the news:

– I want to congratulate you Yair Lapid and the party leaders. We expect the Knesset to meet as soon as possible for approval by the government, the president writes on Twitter Wednesday night.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz from the Blue and White Party also congratulates the new coalition:

– This is a night with great hope. I congratulate my partners in the change bloc and wish the State of Israel success.

A state in disintegration

The parties that will now make an attempt to govern Israel together have fundamental disagreements on key issues, such as relations with Palestine.

While the center-right Yesh Atid party stands for a secular center-right policy, wants less influence for ultra-Orthodox Jews and is in favor of compromises with the Palestinians, the right-wing nationalist alliance Yamina completely disagrees, supporting an annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Henriksen Waage is fully aware that finding a solution for Palestine is “completely out of the question”.

– The new government will have more than enough to survive its political everyday life, so a solution with Palestine will not happen.

The new government will take over from a prime minister who has also failed to approach a solution to the conflict.

– Netanyahu has been a politician and prime minister who has marked himself on security in the sense that the only solution he has had to the conflict is military. There have been no signs of negotiations or diplomacy, which marked the Labor Party governments in the 1990s.

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