Deadline Looms for Israeli Officials to Form a New Coalition Government
Yair Lapid, opposition leader of the Yesh Atid Party, aims to propose a new coalition government to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin before the June 2nd deadline. If he is successful, it will be the first Israeli government in more than 10 years to be led by someone other than the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to CBN News, Lapid faces a difficult challenge in forming a coalition with parties from the left and center, as well as trying to include a new Arab Islamist party. But all these parties have one thing in common: they oppose Netanyahu.
If Lapid fails to reach the deadline, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, will have three weeks to establish a new government, Times of Israel reports.
The Israeli political system was on edge Saturday night as news circulated that the Yamina party No. 2 Ayelet Shaked was poised to announce his support for the creation of a coalition that would depose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Shaked, who had been withholding support for a coalition government, issued a brief statement Saturday night announcing that he supported party leader Naftali Bennett joining a power-sharing government led by Bennett and Lapid.
According to the alleged deal, Bennett would serve as prime minister for the first two years in the new administration, with Lapid taking over for the last two.
Shaked was previously considered a critical holdout on joining the so-called “change camp.”
The Yamina party No. 2 is believed to be concerned about a right-wing backlash from voters who would prefer a government led by the conservative Netanyahu rather than one supported and eventually headed by the centrist Lapid.
Netanyahu has accused Bennett of abandoning the right by attempting to establish a left-wing coalition out of political ambition.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, Israeli officials have been unable to form a coalition government over the past two years, forcing Israeli citizens to vote an unprecedented four times for the country’s prime minister.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/John Theodor
John Paluska has been a contributor for Christian Headlines since 2016 and is the founder of The Washington Gazette, a news outlet he relaunched in 2019 as a response to the constant distribution of fake news.
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