Netanyahu’s enemies are pushing for a quick vote to end his 12-year term Benjamin Netanyahu News

Opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are pushing for a speedy vote to end their rule-setting rule, the race to get rid of what is expected to be a frantic push for the prime minister and his allies announced new coalition.

The new phase of the political war began just hours after opposition leader Yair Lapid and his coalition leader Naftali Bennett – a strange ideological couple – reached an agreement on Wednesday night to form a new government.

The announcement sparked a complex process that is likely to happen next week and gave Netanyahu time to try to pressure members of the coalition who ideologically agree with him to leave the group.

The question now was whether the 61-vote coalition would be maintained through a 120-member Knesset vote and who would lead that vote?

Netanyahu has accused former allies who joined the incoming coalition of betraying right-wing values. His supporters have shown and launched malicious social media campaigns, repeating the message Netanyahu sent as he formed a new coalition last week.

One factor when it comes to working for Netanyahu: the speaker of parliament is an ally, delaying his position on the vote and sabotaging the coalition that could give Netanyahu more time.

The prime minister and his allies called a meeting on Thursday to lay down the next steps, and it was unclear whether his opponents could appoint a new speaker of parliament to lead the Knesset vote needed to confirm the new government.

Historical agreement

Going forward, Lapid and several members of Israel’s political spectrum will end Netanyahu’s fixing record, a 12-year rule-breaking rule.

Under the agreement, Lapid and Bennett will alternately share the work of the prime minister. Bennett, Netanyahu’s former ally, will serve for the first two years, while Lapid will serve for the past two years, but it is far from certain that their weak coalition will last long.

The historic agreement also includes a small United Arab Emirates List, which would be the first party of Israeli Palestinian citizens to become a member of an Israeli governing coalition.

Netanyahu, desperate to stay in office while fighting corruption allegations, is expected to do everything possible in the coming days to prevent the new coalition from taking power. If he fails, he will be pushed into opposition.

Political analysts had high hopes that Netanyahu would try to pick what he described as a “hanging fruit,” gaining members of Yamina (Bennett’s party) because they are unhappy with joining forces with Palestinians and left-wing lawmakers.

MP Tamar Zandberg Meretz acknowledged the difficulties her party had in reaching an alliance.

“The coalition test … has to be sworn in. That won’t be a problem and no problem,” he said on Army Radio on Thursday.

Netanyahu, who has not yet responded to Lapidi’s announcement, controls 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, nearly double that of Lapiden’s Yesh Atid party, and has allied with at least three other religious and nationalist parties.

A source involved in the coalition talks said the proposed new government would try to maintain consensus, avoiding ideological issues such as whether to add or cede the occupied West Bank territory that the Palestinians want for a state.

Bennet said creating an independent Palestine would be suicide for Israel. The annexation of parts of the territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war became the main feature of its political platform, but following this seems to be politically feasible with a broad new coalition.

And renewed violence on the Gaza Strip, after an 11-day ceasefire in Israel, intensively bombed the besieged enclave as revenge for rocket fire from there, could shake the broad alliance.

“Back to the senses”

During his time as prime minister, Netanyahu has often been polarized at home and abroad.

A Bennett-Lapid coalition has said it would jeopardize Israel’s security – a reference to efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program and manage the Palestinian issue.

Lapid, a centrist who pledged to “return the guy” to Israel, was given the task of forming a government because Netanyahu failed to do so after the March final elections.

Netanyahu’s rivals have cited criminal accusations against him as the main reason Israel needs a new leader, arguing that it could use a new term to legalize immunity from armor.

“This government … will respect its opponents and will do everything it can to unite and connect all parts of Israeli society,” Lapid said on Twitter.

The new government, if it swears, will face considerable challenges. Not only does it have a dying peace process with Iran and the Palestinians, but it also has an economic recovery from the International Criminal Court’s war crimes probe and coronavirus pandemic.

Bennett said his members should be committed to such ideological issues to get the country back on track.