A new governing coalition has been formed and is prepared to
replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, opposition leader Yair Lapid officially
informed President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin late Wednesday
night.
"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," Lapid told Rivlin.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, Lapid and Ra'am (United
Arab List) Chairman Mansour Abbas signed an agreement at a meeting on Wednesday
night at Ramat Gan's Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel, in the first coalition deal ever
signed by an Arab party.
Abbas had added last-minute demands on Wednesday, following
multiple conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After Netanyahu
offered to cancel a law enforcing fines on illegal Arab building, Abbas
demanded the same from the unity government being formed.
The Southern Islamic Movement's Shura Council decided in
Kfar Kassem on Wednesday night to empower Abbas to make a final decision about
whether to enter the coalition, based on his conversation with Bennett and
Lapid.
"The decision was hard and there were several disputes
but it was important to reach agreements," Abbas told reporters after
singing the deal.
Another coalition deal was signed with the New Hope Party.
The deal guarantees splitting the role of the attorney-general, preventing
Palestinian construction in Israeli controlled Area C of the West Bank and
legalizing the usage of cannabis. The party received the Justice, Education,
Construction and Communications portfolios.
Another dispute appeared to be on the way to a compromise
after Bennett's number two in Yamina, MK Ayelet Shaked, accepted a rotation in
the Judicial Selection Committee with Labor leader Merav Michaeli. According to
the compromise, Shaked would serve on the committee in the first half of the
term, along with an MK from Labor, and Michaeli in the second half, along with
an MK from New Hope.
But Michaeli then demanded to go first in the rotation,
which Shaked requested. One way of resolving the dispute that was discussed is
a rotation of portfolios in the second half of the term, with Shaked becoming
justice minister, New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar shifting from the Justice to the
Foreign Affairs portfolio and Bennett moving from Prime Minister to Interior
Minister and alternate Prime Minister when Lapid becomes Prime Minister.
Michaeli could also be promoted in that scenario.
Michaeli and Lapid met late Wednesday night just ahead of
the deadline.
The judicial selection committee is due to select six new
Supreme Court judges over the next four years. It automatically includes the
justice minister, who will be New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar, one additional
minister, an MK from the coalition and one from the opposition. There are also
representatives from the current Supreme Court and the Bar
Association.
Michaeli said late Tuesday night that she accepted the
agreement that gives Shaked the right to serve in the selection committee
first. In return, Labor received the Chairmanship of the Knesset Law and
Constitution Committee. She said she was proud to make history in ousting
Netanyahu.
Shaked was not the only MK in Yamina causing problems. MK
Nir Orbach, who has been touted as a possible coalition Chairman, was undecided
about whether to vote for the government in the minutes before the deadline.
Orbach and Bennett met late Wednesday night after the
coalition was announced. The meeting was positive, according to Yamina, and
they will hold another one Thursday.
Lapid needed to tell President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset
Speaker Yariv Levin by Wednesday midnight that he can form a government. Had he
not done so, the mandate would have gone to the Knesset, where any MK had the
opportunity to build a coalition with the support of 61 MKs.
A source close to Lapid said that even if details remain
unresolved, Lapid would still tell Rivlin he had formed a government and allow
the remaining issues to be dealt with before the new government gets approved
in the Knesset.
Lapid had wanted to inform Levin that he had formed a
government during Wednesday's Knesset session, in order to make sure the
Knesset speaker would schedule a vote of confidence in the new government and
the swearing in of the new ministers by next week.
But final deals were not reached in time. It is expected
that once Levin receives word from Lapid that a government is ready, he will
insist on waiting as long as permitted by law in order to maximize pressure on
Yamina MKs, which could end up being 12 days.
Marathon talks among representatives of the eight parties
set to join the coalition at the Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel finalized coalition
agreements with every party overnight Tuesday night, concluding with a deal
with Blue and White. A Blue and White spokeswoman said they agreed upon a
number of central policy areas to advance and strengthen democracy and Israeli
society at large.