Israel's Netanyahu and Gantz sign unity government deal
BBC
April 20, 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rival, Benny Gantz, have signed an agreement to form an emergency unity government.
The deal will see the pair rotating the leadership of the country, with Mr Netanyahu going first as PM.
It brings political certainty to Israel after three inconclusive elections and a year of political paralysis.
Both men had faced calls to avoid a fourth election and form a coalition to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The Israeli health ministry has reported more than 13,700 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 177 associated deaths.
Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gantz signed the coalition deal at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem on Monday night, as Israel remained in near-total lockdown.
"I promised the State of Israel a national emergency government that will act to save the lives and livelihoods of Israeli citizens," Mr Netanyahu tweeted afterwards.
Mr Gantz wrote: "We have prevented a fourth election. We will protect democracy. We will fight coronavirus and care for all Israel's citizens."
The agreement will see positions in the government shared between Mr Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and Mr Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance.
Mr Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, will remain in post for 18 months, during which time his delayed trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust is due to start. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Gantz, a former military chief who was elected speaker of parliament three weeks ago, will start off by serving as deputy prime minister and defence minister, before taking over as prime minister in October 2021 for another 18 months.
No legislation unrelated to the battle against the coronavirus will be brought before parliament for a period of six months without consent, according to the agreement.
However, Mr Netanyahu will be allowed to advance legislation to annex Jewish settlements and other land in the occupied West Bank that the Palestinians want as part of a future state - in line with the peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump in January. The settlements are widely considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
The BBC's Tom Bateman in Jerusalem says the agreement marks an end to one of the most turbulent periods in Israeli political history and amounts to a victory for Mr Netanyahu, who stays in office despite a criminal indictment and a country deeply divided over his leadership.
Mr Gantz, our correspondent adds, has ditched half of the political alliance he built over three elections - it had fractured under the strain of Mr Netanyahu's manoeuvres, with the coronavirus emergency providing a backdrop of urgency.
Some of Mr Gantz's former allies accused him of betrayal by joining his former adversary in government.
He had pledged not to serve under Mr Netanyahu because he was facing criminal charges. But he backtracked last month, saying that "these are not normal times and they call for unusual decisions".
Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Meretz party was quoted by the Jerusalem Post newspaper as saying: "The man who was supposed to be the prime minister who would bring change decided to raise a white flag instead of winning."
"This is not an emergency government, but there is an emergency situation for our democracy," she added.
US ambassador David Friedman said he was "delighted" by the agreement.
"The United States looks forward to working closely with the new gov't to advance our shared values and interests bilaterally and across the world," he tweeted.
But Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh condemned the formation of "an Israeli annexation government", which he said meant "ending the two-state solution and the dismantling of the rights of the people of Palestine as established under international law and resolutions".
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ISRAEL'S NEW GOVERNMENT MAKES LEFTISTS, ARABS FURIOUS
It might prevent a fourth election, for now, but Netanyahu-Gantz coalition is dangerously fragile
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
April 21, 2020
Liberal Israelis and most Palestinian Arabs are never pleased when a new right-wing government takes power in the Jewish state. But the new government that came into being on Monday night was especially appalling to rivals.
The three election campaigns over the past year made clear that the top three issues were:
1. A referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued rule, in particular now that he is under criminal indictment;
2. Whether or not Israel’s Jewish character should be enshrined in law;
3. Annexation of the Jordan Valley.
Left-wing Israelis are furious that Netanyahu will remain prime minister and get a chance to advance his agenda on the other two points thanks to Benny Gantz, who until a couple weeks ago was the leader of the opposition and the face of the “Just Not Bibi” movement.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh decried what he called an “annexation government” that will effectively bring about the end of the “two-state solution and the dismantling of the rights of the people of Palestine as established under international law and resolutions.”
Many secular right-wingers were also none-too-pleased. Represented largely in the figure of Avigdor Liberman, they have long expressed displeasure over Netanyahu’s reliance on, and therefore overreaching concessions to, the ultra-Orthodox political parties.
While Liberman had insisted on a unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz, the coalition that emerged on Monday was a far cry from what he envisioned, given that Netanyahu’s bloc remains dominant and partnered with the ultra-Orthodox.
“This is another government of Netanyahu and his Haredi-messianic bloc with a fig leaf of two senior generals,” Liberman wrote on Facebook, referring to the fact that both Gantz and his number two, Gabi Ashkenazi, are former IDF chiefs of staff.
Unideal, fragile, but necessary
Netanyahu and Gantz on Monday finally hammered out a unity coalition agreement that both men say is necessary to enable Israel to successfully weather the coronavirus crisis.
The key points of that agreement are as follows:
__Netanyahu will remain prime minister for 18 months, then in September of 2021 will hand the reins to Gantz, who will govern for the final 18 months;
__The government will initially have 32 ministers, with the number swelling to 36, the most in Israel’s history, as soon as the coronavirus crisis has ended. The ministerial portfolios will be equally split between Netanyahu and Gantz, even though the latter brings far fewer Knesset seats into the coalition;
__For its first six months, the government will focus solely on the coronavirus crisis and its effects. Legislation on all matters not related to the coronavirus will be shelved until after the crisis has ended;
__After July 1, assuming the coronavirus crisis has abated, the government will bring to a vote the annexation of the Jordan Valley and other parts of the West Bank, in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s so-called “deal of the century.” But, coalition members will be free to vote as they see fit on the matter;
__Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc will enjoy greater influence over the judicial system with effective veto power over judicial appointments and the installment of Likud MK Yariv Levin, a critic of the Supreme Court, as the new Speaker of the Knesset;
__Gantz’s “Blue and White” will control the powerful Knesset House Committee, which steers the legislative agenda in parliament.
Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc brings 53 MKs to the coalition, even without the right-wing Yamina party that has threatened to join the opposition over concessions made to Gantz.
Gantz’s party and allies bring another 19 MKs, meaning the new government has a solid 72-seat majority in Knesset. But, while the situation might look stable, it is anything but.
Ideologically, the two blocs remain very much divided, especially on the three top electoral issues listed above. There is a very justified concern that Israel could find itself once again facing early elections should Netanyahu’s criminal trial go against him, the right-wing bloc begin to throw its weight around, the left-wing bloc get cold feet on annexing the Jordan Valley, or a hundred other possibilities.
In other words, despite having the numbers, this is one of modern Israel’s more fragile governing coalitions.
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