On Thursday, the Israeli unity government is expected to be sworn in, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former opponent, Benny Gantz, will be in power after nearly a year and a half of the longest political deadlock in which Israel held three inconclusive elections.
This government is the result of an agreement between Netanyahu and Gantz last month to continue for three years, with the former heading the government for 18 months and then relinquishing the position to the second who will hold the position for the same period, after which new elections will be held.
The Prime Minister, who represents the Israeli right and has been in power since 2009 without interruption, announced that he had finished forming the government in a message he sent to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin late on Wednesday evening.
Netanyahu's victory
The government deal represents a victory for Netanyahu, whose first court hearing is scheduled to start in three separate corruption cases in the last week of May.
The Israel Daily newspaper, loyal to Netanyahu, wrote Thursday in an opinion piece, that the prime minister signed his "expiration date" after the longest period in the history of Israel in his post as prime minister.
The thirty-fifth Israeli government includes representatives of various political frameworks, and accordingly, the portfolios will be distributed among deputies in the left-wing Labor Party, the Gantz-centrist "Blue White" coalition, the right-wing "Likud" party, and leaders of conservative and hard-line parties.
Journalist Ben Dror Yamini wrote in the newspaper "Yediot Aharonot" that the government coalition is "huge" and "extravagant" with 34 ministerial portfolios and could increase the number to 36.
Criticism and surprises
The new government has raised criticism as a "major" and for increasing fiscal spending because of the alternative position of prime minister, especially as Israel faces the rebuilding of an economy hit hard by the Coved 19-pandemic.
According to the principles of Netanyahu's political directives on Wednesday, the new government will draw up a "plan to break out of the deep economic crisis."
Among the surprises of the last moments before the formation of the government, the outgoing Minister of Defense and the leader of the National Right party, Naftali Bennett, announced that he would join the opposition, and he is seen as one of the strongest supporters of annexation and settlement expansion in the West Bank.
The defense portfolio in the new government will go to former chief of staff Benny Gantz, who resigned from his position as speaker of the Knesset on Tuesday after taking office nearly two months ago.
Meanwhile, Israeli Channel 12 reported that there are disputes over the distribution of ministerial portfolios that may delay the swearing-in oath of the new government in Israel until Sunday.