Quake in Israel: Opposition wants to forge a government without Netanyahu

In Israel, opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu want to form a new government.

However, these are far apart in the political spectrum.

Tel Aviv - In Israel *, opposition opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu * seem to want to jointly form a new government without the head of government.

The leader of the far-right Jamina party, Naftali Bennett, said in Jerusalem on Sunday (May 30) that he would do everything possible to forge an alliance with opposition leader Jair Lapid of the Future Party.

According to media reports, the goal is a rotation in the office of prime minister: First, ex-defense minister Bennett should take over this for two years, then it would be Lapid's turn.

Israel: end of the Netanyahu era?

If such a government were sworn in in parliament, the Netanyahu era would be over for the time being.

Netanyahu was prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and has been in office since 2009.

He was Israel's longest-serving head of government.

Bennett said it had become clear that right-wing government was currently impossible to form.

The only options are a fifth election or a unity government with Lapid.

Israel: New minority government looming

After the agreement, a minority government is emerging, which is tolerated by Arab MPs.

In the March 23 election, Lapid's center-right Party of the Future had become the second strongest force behind Netanyahu's Likud.

Bennett Jamina party was considered to tip the scales.

Israel has recently remained in a permanent political crisis.

The fourth parliamentary election within two years had again not resulted in a clear

majority.

Netanyahu had failed to form a government, so on May 5, President Reuven Rivlin commissioned Lapid to do so.

The mandate is valid until Wednesday at midnight.

Lapid's Future Party has already reached agreements with the left-liberal Meretz Party, the Labor Party and the far-right Israel Beitenu of ex-Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Israel: Complicated coalition formation under Lapid

Lapid wants to bring together several small parties that are far apart in the political spectrum. Above all, they are united by the rejection of Netanyahu, against whom a corruption process is ongoing. Their political goals, however, are wide apart: Bennett is regarded as being friendly to settlers, for example, while Meretz and the Labor Party are in favor of establishing an independent Palestinian state. This could make the coalition's work more difficult.

The 57-year-old Lapid had entered politics after a career as a television presenter. He

served as finance minister

in a previous Netanyahu government

. At the beginning of May, 56 MPs voted in favor of letting Lapid form a government. Jamina won seven Knesset seats in the previous election. However, one MP has announced that he will not support Jamina joining the coalition planned by Lapid. Netanyahu had tried to the last to persuade other Jamina MPs to take this step.

(dpa / jh) * merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.Media