It happened sometime around midnight on May 23. After many long hours of debates and clashes between the coalition and the opposition in the Knesset plenum, a compromise was finally reached, and the Scholarships for Veterans Bill passed its third reading.

The law, which provides an academic scholarship to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) veterans, highlighted the challenges faced by a minority government. Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s original proposal had the government funding 66% of tuition for newly discharged soldiers, who fought in combat units. The problem was that there was no way to pass the law, due to opposition from Arab members of the coalition. In other words, if it was to pass, the law would need support from at least some members of the opposition.

The two sides fought over it for a week. On the one hand, the Likud under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership declared that they have no plans to support a coalition that relies on the votes of Arab Knesset members, who are opposed in principle to IDF troops. And yet, while it is the role of the opposition to challenge the coalition and attempt to topple it, the IDF remains a part of the consensus among Israelis. It is, therefore, hard to explain doing something that might hurt it.

This was the background for the campaigns that took place over the last few days on the backs of the troops themselves. Opposition leader Netanyahu led the forces opposed to the new legislation. For one brief moment, he actually seemed to have a good argument against it. He posted on Twitter, “If the coalition wants to help the troops, then it would fund 100% of their tuition. In that case, we promise to support the bill.” The argument received a level of support in the wake of the crisis within the coalition, when Knesset member Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi announced that she was quitting the coalition. She later withdrew her resignation upon receiving promises of new budgets for the Arab sector that she represents.