Bennett, Abbas finalize coalition deal

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid and Ra’am (United Arab List) chairman Mansour Abbas reached an agreement at a meeting on Wednesday night at Ramat Gan’s Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel, in an effort to resolve the final differences preventing the formation of a unity government.

Abbas had added last-minute demands on Wednesday, following multiple conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After Netanyahu offered to cancel a law enforcing fines on illegal Arab building, Abbas demanded the same from the unity government being formed. 

The Southern Islamic Movement’s Shura Council decided in Kfar Kassem on Wednesday night to empower Abbas to make a final decision about whether to enter the coalition, based on his conversation with Bennett and Lapid. Abbas and Lapid signed a coalition agreement to form a unity government.

“We are negotiating not about political posts but about solutions to the challenges faced by the Arab community,” Abbas told Channel 12 as he entered his car en route from the Shura Council to his meeting with Bennett and Lapid. “We do not intend to flex muscles but to remain focused on our professional requests.”

Another dispute appeared to be on the way to a compromise after Bennet’s number two in Yamina, MK Ayelet Shaked, accepted a rotation in the Judicial Selection Committee with Labor leader Merav Michaeli. According to the compromise, Shaked would serve on the committee in the first half of the term, along with an MK from Labor, and Michaeli in the second half, along with an MK from New Hope.

But Michaeli then demanded to go first in the rotation, which Shaked requested. One way of resolving the dispute that was discussed is a rotation of portfolios in the second half of the term, with Shaked becoming justice minister, New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar shifting from the Justice to the Foreign Affairs portfolio and Bennett moving from prime minister to interior minister and alternate prime minister when Lapid becomes prime minister. Michaeli could also be promoted in that scenario.  

The judicial selection committee is due to select six new Supreme Court judges over the next four years. It automatically includes the justice minister, who will be New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar, one additional minister, an MK from the coalition and one from the opposition. There are also representatives from the current Supreme Court and the Bar Association.  

During Wednesday’s vote for president in the Knesset plenum, Bennett spoke at length with Shaked and spoke twice with Michaeli, in an effort to resolve the dispute.  

Lapid must tell President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin by Wednesday night at 11:59 that he can form a government; otherwise, the mandate goes to the Knesset, where any MK has the option to build a coalition with the support of 61 MKs.

A source close to Lapid said that even if details remain unresolved, Lapid would still tell Rivlin he had formed a government and allow the remaining issues to be dealt with before the new government gets approved in the Knesset.

Lapid had wanted to inform Levin that he had formed a government during Wednesday’s Knesset session, in order to make sure the Knesset speaker would schedule a vote of confidence in the new government and the swearing in of the new ministers by next week. But final deals were not reached in time. It is expected that once Levin receives word from Lapid that a government is ready, he will insist on waiting as long as permitted by law in order to maximize pressure on Yamina MKs, which could end up being 12 days.

Marathon talks among representatives of the eight parties set to join the coalition at the Kfar Hamaccabiah Hotel finalized coalition agreements with every party overnight Tuesday night, concluding with a deal with Blue and White. A Blue and White spokeswoman said they agreed upon a number of central policy areas to advance and strengthen democracy and Israeli society at large.