Israel has again hit the headlines but this time not for its aggressive retaliation. The political turmoil that Israel is facing for the last two years, has yet again grasped the country tightly creating a situation of political paralysis. After four indecisive parliamentary elections in just two years, the leaders of two main opposition parties of Israel on Sunday said that they would work together to form a coalition government to end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record run as the country’s leader.
The opposition party leaders in Israel moved a step closer to drive out Netanyahu for the first time in 12 years, after an erstwhile ally agreed to join the alternative government, they’re trying to form. Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu’s former Defence Minister and leader of the Yamina Party announced his coalition with Yair Lapid, the Yesh Atid Party leader to form the government.
Will the Opposition successfully unseat Netanyahu?
While the opposition party leaders are joining hands to unseat the longest-serving Prime Minister of the country, the big question is: Will they successfully achieve their goal and be able to form a successful coalition government?
The political leader who worked in Netanyahu in various cabinet positions said he will “work with all his might” to form the “government of change” together with former Finance Minister Yair Lapid. It is believed that Lapid’s chances of success rest with Bennett’s Yamina party’s six seats in the 120-member Parliament are enough to give him the status of kingmaker.
It is also being believed that the new coalition government if formed, will work on the deal of power-sharing where Bennett would replace Netanyahu as the Prime Minister and later give way to Lapid in order for him to take the position.
However, it is also important to note that the opponents of Netanyahu are still short of four parliamentary seats to reach the majority of 61 lawmakers. Therefore, the two parties are now relying on the support of an Arab party to reach the number that will allow them to form a government in the country.
The unlikely alliance
The new coalition government that is especially being built in order to throw Benjamin Netanyahu out of power would bring together almost all nationalists, centrists and leftists, secular and religious, Arab and Jewish parties to create an unlikely alliance in the history of the politics of Israel.
Netanyahu says it as ‘The Fraud of the century’
After the news of the unification of the opposition parties became well-known, Netanyahu, the 71-year-old man who dominated Israeli politics for a generation said, “Don’t form a left-wing government, as such a government is a danger to Israel’s security and future.”
Netanyahu clearly pointed towards Naftali Bennett and said that he is “misleading the public” and is going to carry out “the fraud of the century”.