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Israel's Lapid says he formed new coalition to unseat Netanyahu
Should it be confirmed by the 120-member Knesset legislature in the coming days, it would end the long reign of the hawkish right-wing leader known as Bibi, who has long dominated Israeli politics.
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Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) party, arrives at the Israeli President's residence in Jerusalem on May 5, 2021. (AFP/Oren Ben Hakoon)
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srael's opposition leader Yair Lapid said he had succeeded in forming a broad-based coalition to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving leader.
Should it be confirmed by the 120-member Knesset legislature in the coming days, it would end the long reign of the hawkish right-wing leader known as Bibi, who has long dominated Israeli politics.
Lapid's announcement late Wednesday came in the final hour before a midnight deadline, following marathon negotiations with a group of parties spanning the political spectrum, united only in their desire to oust Netanyahu.
"I succeeded," Lapid, a former TV news anchor, wrote on Facebook. "I promise that this government will work in the service of all of the citizens of Israel, those who voted for it and those who did not."
The right-wing nationalist tech millionaire Naftali Bennett, 49, would serve first as prime minister in a rotation agreement, with Lapid to take over after two years.
"With the help of God we will do together what is good for Israel and we'll get Israel back on track," Bennett told Israel's President Reuven Rivlin after Lapid had informed Rivlin of their coalition.
The opposition leader and his partners now have at least a week before lawmakers must vote to confirm their government -– a period during which Netanyahu and his Likud party are expected to try to do what they can to prevent it.
Should last-minute defections scupper the "change" alliance, Israel would likely have to hold yet another election, the fifth in just over two years.
Lapid, who heads the secular centrist party Yesh Atid, last Sunday won the crucial support of Bennett, head of the Yamina "Rightward" party.
To build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid had to sign individual agreements with seven parties.
They include the hawkish New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar, and right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party.
Also part of the alliance are the Labor party, the dovish Meretz party, and the centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who unsuccessfully challenged Netanyahu in three previous votes.
