After four hundred and eighty-four days of political deadlock and three unsuccessful legislative elections, Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, General Benny Gantz, have reached an agreement to form a government of "national emergency" against the coronavirus, Monday April 20. The deal should allow Netanyahu to remain in power and confront his judges from a position of strength, while his trial for corruption, fraud and breach of trust is scheduled to begin on May 24.
It also paves the way for the annexation, as soon as possible in July, of the Jordan Valley and part of the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank occupied since 1967, a promise made in the campaign by Mr. Netanyahu in April 2019, strongly encouraged by the White House.
After seven weeks of negotiations, the two men concluded a rotation agreement at the head of the government for a period of three years extendable. Mr. Netanyahu undertakes to hand over after eighteen months to Mr. Gantz, and then replace him in an unprecedented post of "Prime Minister of Alternation". The former chief of staff also obtains the Ministry of Defense.
A bloated government
Its allies take half of the portfolios of a bloated government, which will eventually include 36 ministers and 16 deputy ministers. In addition to foreign affairs and justice, they gain equal representation in the security cabinet and on key parliamentary committees. The alliance, concluded on the eve of Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust remembrance day, would end more than a year of transitional government, in which Netanyahu appeared to be an omnipotent figure.
The deal is generous to Mr. Gantz’s movement, reduced to 17 MPs – half the size of Likud – since the general chose to detonate him to continue these negotiations on March 26. Gantz then renounced his motley majority of 61 MPs, who associated him with the Arab parties and the ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman. United by their sole desire to end Mr. Netanyahu's mandate, they did not seem to have the means to form a government.
"We avoided a fourth election", welcomed, on Monday evening, on Twitter, Mr. Gantz, to whom a new election would be fatal, since he renounced his main campaign promise: not to sit under the authority of a prime minister prosecuted in justice. "We will protect democracy. We will fight the coronavirus and we will care about all the citizens of Israel, " he went on.
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