The unprecedented coalition agreement signed on April 20 between Interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chair Benny Gantz means a major change in Israel’s system of government. The system in place for over 70 years whereby a prime minister heads the executive branch and administers a government of ministers as the first among equals is no more. It has been replaced by a government led by a premier and an “alternative,” a two-headed regime. No longer will one man have the final say. Two entirely different people will be forced to share the reins of governance.
Under their power-sharing deal, both Netanyahu and Gantz will live like prime ministers in official residences, protected and driven in convoys. Neither will be able to fire a minister from the other bloc. Netanyahu will manage his quota of 18 ministers and Gantz will handle his, though he intends to make do with fewer than his allotted share of 18 to quell public criticism of the monstrous government at a time of coronavirus-induced austerity.