NEW COALITION KICKS OUT NETANYAHU, FORMS NEW ISRAELI GOV’T

Yesh Atid's leader Yair Lapid announced Wednesday night (Thursday morning, June 3, 2021, in Manila) that he has managed to form a coalition in the Knesset and declared that the eight-party coalition has formed a government, Michael Hauser Tov reported for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Lapid has formally informed President Reuven Rivlin of his success, saying that "The government will do everything it can in order to unite and unify all sections of Israeli society."

He added: "I am honored to inform you that I have managed to form a government. The government will be a rotation government, in accordance with clause 13a in the Basic Law on the Government. I will lead it with MK Naftali Bennett who will be the first to serve as prime minister."

Lapid's coalition is composed of Yesh Atid, Yamina, Kahol Lavan, New Hope, Labor, Yisrael Beiteinu, Meretz, and United Arab List. New Hope's Gideon Sa'ar and Yamina's Naftali Bennett were the last to sign the coalition agreement with Lapid, shortly following United Arab List's Mansour Abbas.

Writing for the New York Times early on June 3, 2021, Patrick Kingsley said the announcement by the parties could lead to the easing of a political impasse that has produced four elections in two years and left Israel without a stable government or a state budget.

“The new coalition is an unusual and awkward alliance between eight political parties from a diverse array of ideologies, from the left to the far right. It includes the membership of a small Arab party called Raam, which would become the first Arab group to join a right-leaning coalition in Israeli history,” he added.

“While some analysts have hailed the coalition as reflecting the breadth and complexity of contemporary society, others say its members are too incompatible for their compact to last, and consider it the embodiment of Israel’s political dysfunction.”

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