Minutes before deadline expires, Israel gets new government
Minutes before his mandate expired, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid announced that he had called President Reuven Rivlin to tell him that Lapid had signed agreements providing the support needed to form a government that will oust Benjamin Netanyahu from power.
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid told President Reuven Rivlin late Wednesday that Lapid had managed to cobble together a majority-backed government. Final agreements for the establishment of the new government were reached about an hour before the midnight deadline.
Lapid tweeted, “I just notified Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin that I succeeded in the mission of assembling a government. I pledge that this government will work at the service of all Israeli citizens — those who voted for it and those who did not. It will respect its opponents and will do whatever it can to unite and reconnect all parts of Israeli society.’’
Lapid had been tasked by the president with assembling a coalition and a government 28 days before, right after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted he had failed to accomplish the mission. Had Lapid failed, the mandate would have gone to the Knesset, where any member could have tried to garner the required majority. If that had also failed, Israel would have had to go to its fifth round of elections in 2½ years.
Coalition talks accelerated May 30 when Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett announced his intention to join Lapid to create a government of change that would oust Netanyahu. Bennett argued that after four election rounds and with the Likud's Netanyahu failing to establish a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, there was no feasibility for a right-wing government. “There is someone telling us that a right-wing government is just around the corner, and we [Yamina] are the ones who are preventing its formation. That is a complete lie. After four elections and two additional months we have all seen that there just will not be a right-wing government headed by Netanyahu,” Bennett said in his televised address.
