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If the coalition is approved by the 120-seat Knesset in the next few days, the rule of a right-wing militant leader dubbed Bibi and long-dominated Israeli politics will end.
Lapido’s statement was issued shortly before the midnight deadline, following a marathon of negotiations with a group of parties of various political leanings, largely united only by the desire to overthrow Netanyahu.
“I was successful,” Lapid, a former television news anchor, wrote on Facebook. “I promise that this government will work for the benefit of all Israeli citizens, both those who voted in favor and those who did not.”
Under the power-sharing agreement, right-wing nationalist Naftali Bennett, a capitalist who has accumulated capital in the tech sector, will serve as prime minister for the first two years of his term. For the next two years, the helm of the government would belong to Y. Lapid.
“With God’s help, we will do what is good for Israel and get Israel back on track,” Bennett told President Reuven Rivlin when Lapid briefed the most representative head of state on forming a coalition.
The opposition leader and his partners will now have at least a week before lawmakers vote to approve their rule. It is likely that during this time, Netanyahu and his Likud party will do everything they can to thwart the opponents’ plan.
If any of the partners decided to withdraw from the “change” alliance at the last minute, Israel would probably enter new elections, and they would be the fifth in just over two years.
Marga Coalition
Lapid, who led the secular centrist Yesh Atid party, garnered significant support last Sunday from Bennett, Yamina’s leader.
To form a bloc against Netanyahu, Lapid had to sign individual agreements with seven parties.
These include the Tikva Hadasha (New Hope) party of former Netanyahu ally Gideon Saar and the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party of Avigdor Lieberman (Israel is our home).
The alliance also includes former centrist army chief Benny Gantz, who had fought Netanyahu in three previous elections, the Blue and White Alliance, the historically influential Labor, and the leftist Meretz.
Gantz, who wrote on Twitter that it was a “night of high hopes,” went to Washington to meet with US officials Thursday, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for previously scheduled talks on Iran.
The Israeli Arab Raam party, whose leader Mansour Abbas announced on Wednesday that a decision was made to secure funding and policies that will improve living conditions by 20 percent, also contributed to the alliance for change. Arabs of Palestinian descent who make up the Israeli population.
“Having reached … agreements on various issues in the interest of Arab society, I have just signed an agreement with Yair Lapid so that he can declare that he can form a government,” he said.
In the 1990s, other Arab lawmakers backed the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin outside of his coalition, but Abbas is the first Arab politician in Israel to openly negotiate a role in the coalition, political observer Afif Abu Much said.
Abu Much noted that lawmakers from other parties representing Arab citizens in Israel had declared their opposition to the Bennett-led government, which strongly supported Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
“The deception of the century”
Lapid was tasked with forming a government after Netanyahu failed to form his coalition after the March elections, the fourth in less than two years.
In an editorial in The Jerusalem Post, the newspaper warned that the “heavy side” of the coalition was just getting started, but added that it “has a chance to really change Israel for the better” after years of political turmoil.
The opponents’ agreement on the coalition is likely to further aggravate the situation for Netanyahu, 71. The prime minister is on trial on criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust in public office, but denies all charges.
If he loses power, he will no longer be able to push through legislative changes that could guarantee him immunity and he will lose control of certain appointments in the Ministry of Justice.
The prime minister, who served a previous three-year term in the 1990s, has long dominated Israeli politics and was close to former US President Donald Trump.
Mr. Netanyahu has reached historic normalization agreements with four Arab states and has carried out a highly successful vaccination campaign against COVID-19.
However, he did not hold true peace talks with the Palestinians, angered by Israel’s growing control over the territories they want for their future status.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians escalated to 11 days of violence last month: rocket fire fired from the Gaza Strip and devastating Israeli air strikes.
Netanyahu said last Sunday that the alliance against him was a “century of deception” and warned that it would lead to “a dangerous left government for the state of Israel.”
