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May. 6, 2021 3:39 PM
The 28-day stopwatch began running on Wednesday for the parties seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israeli President Reuven Rivlin awarded Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid a mandate to form a government and rescue Israel from the political mire of the last two years. Lapid and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett are now determined to do whatever it takes to enable them, each in his own turn, to fulfill their dreams of being prime minister.
To get there they will need to close the yawning gaps separating the left and right, to create a functioning government and stay in office until 2025, when they can go to the voters with a record of achievement and the popularity that comes with it.
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Netanyahu realizes that his situation is difficult, which is why he declared Monday that he would allow Yamina Chairman Naftali Bennett serve as prime minister for the first year as part of a rotation agreement between them. But Netanyahu’s word, as always, is meaningless. His only remaining option is to form a right-wing government comprising his Likud party, the Haredi Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, Yamina and Religious Zionism, with the support of the United Arab List.
Although Netanyahu has the support of all of these parties – including Yamina, as Bennett made clear Monday (“You don’t have to persuade me; bring a government, we’re prepared to help”) – the prime minister has a problem: In order to form this coalition, he needs to convince Religious Zionism Chairman Bezalel Smotrich to “assimilate politically” and join a government that relies on the United Arab List.
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Yamina Chairman Naftali Bennett, a key player in forming a new coalition, will have to soon decide which coalition he wants to join. “The main problem with the change bloc coalition is that Bennett has not decided yet whether he wants to join it,” said a source from within the change bloc who is taking part in the talks. “When he does, we’ll have to bridge some gaps over allocation of portfolios and over setting up mechanisms that will enable this coalition to function.”
“One can assume that these gaps can be closed,” the source added.
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Apr. 25, 2021 11:51 PM
Likud is set to offer United Arab List chairman Mansour Abbas one of four slots as deputy Knesset speaker, in an attempt to obtain his support for a bill calling for direct election of the prime minister. The chairman of the Knesset Arrangements Committee, Likud’s Miki Zohar, is expected to call a committee meeting on Monday and bring the selection of the deputies to a vote.
The Arrangements Committee, which decides on the composition of parliamentary panels and sets the Knesset’s agenda as long as a caretaker government is in place, was established last week. The proposal on the committee’s composition by the bloc opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which passed by a narrow margin, gives it an advantage over the parties that support the prime minister. Because of this, Zohar has prevented the committee from voting on its agenda.