Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached an agreement over his new coalition government with the leaders of several parties.
The agreement will be formally signed on Thursday.
The breakthrough on Wednesday, two days before the second deadline for forming a government expires, came after Netanyahu agreed that Yesh Atid (There is a Future), the centrist party of Yair Lapid, could take the Education Ministry.
Netanyahu’s Likud wounded up long and difficult negotiations with three other parties : Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) of Naftali Bennett, Hatnuah (The Movement) of Tzipi Livni and Kadima (Forward) of Shaul Mofaz.
The new government marks a significant change of direction for Israeli politics with the exclusion of the ultra-Orthodox parties - Shas and United Torah Judaism will join the Labor party in the oppostion-and the entry of a range of disparate parties who agree on ending ultra-Orthodox exemption from national service and a better deal for the middle class.
Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains in place, he is now working with dramatically reshuffled political deck. The roots of this transformation are in the social protest movement in the summer of 2011. This remarkable change in the political agenda has created what is in many ways an unlikely looking coalition. The cabinet is also considerably smaller that before, as a result of a demand by Yair Lapid to cut out wasteful and redundant ministries.
The coalition building process has been defined by an alliance between the centrist-secular Yair Lapid and the national-religious Naftali Bennett. Despite having very different world views, these two share positions in the socio-economic sphere. They agree on reducing the growing economic burden created by the ultra-Orthodox by drafting them to national service and more importantly, by bringing them into the workforce. Both constituencies want to see the over-concentration of wealth in the country addressed and a reduction in the cost of living. The national-religious sector is also interested in winning back control over religious institutions from the ultra-Orthodox.
The new government will have a 68 seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset or Parliament based on a coalition deal between four Knesset factions :
The right-wing Likud Beitenu faction with 31 seats (itself a coalition of Likud led by Benjamin Netanyahu with 20 seats and Yisrael Beitenu led by Avigdor Lieberman with 11);
Yair Lapid’s centrist, secular Yesh Atid with 19 seats;
Naftali Bennett’s national religious Habayit Hayehudi with 12 seats;
Tzipi Livni’s peace process focussed Hatnua with six seats;
On the peace process, views in the government could hardly be more diverse. Whether Netanyahu takes a more progressive or more conservative approach to brewing international pressure to rein in settlement construction, either way the unity of the coalition and the priorities of its members will be tested.
Tzipi Livni, who has been given the job of leading negotiations with the Palestinians in addition to the Justice Minister portfolio, believes it is an imperative for securing Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state to seek a peace agreement.
Benjamin Netanyahu will also be Foreign Minister until Avigdor Lieberman is cleared from legal charges.
Though Yair Lapid agrees in rhetorical terms, his committment to the issue is untested. At the other end of the spectrum, Naftali Bennett is opposed to the two-state solution and will want to promote continued settlement construction in the West Bank. Those views are shared by a number of the Knesset members in Benjamin Netanyahu’s own Likud party.
On the Iranian issue, the most consistent advocate of an Israeli unilateral military option, Ehud Barak, former Defense Minister, has been replaced by Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon, who though no less determined to stop Iran, was recently critical of Barak’s posturing on the issue.
Provisional list of ministers (according to latest information)
Likud Beitenu - 12 ministries including:
Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud)
Defence Minister: Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon (Likud)
Foreign Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu (acting, pending trial of Avigdor Lieberman)
Interior Minister: Gidon Saar or Gilad Erdan (Likud)
Transport Minister: Yisrael Katz (Likud)
Intelligence and Strategy Minister: Yuval Steinitz (Likud)
Communications, Culture and Sport/Homeland Defence: Limor Livnat or Gilad Erdan (Likud)
Negev and Galil/EnergyMinister: Silvan Shalom (Likud)
Agriculture Minister: Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beitenu)
Internal Security Minister: Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beitenu)
Minister for Immigration and Absorption: Sofa Landver (Yisrael Beitenu)
Tourism Miniser: Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu)
Yesh Atid - 5 ministries
Finance Minister : Yair Lapid
Education Minister: Shai Piron
Welfare Minister: Meir Cohen
Health Minister: Yael German
Science Minister: Yaakov Perri
Deputy Defence Minister: Ofer Shelah
Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) - 3 ministries
Economy and Trade Minister: Naftali Bennett
Housing and Construction Minister: Uri Ariel
Pensioners Minister: Uri Orbach
Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs: Eli Ben-Dahan
Hatnua - 2 ministries
Justice Minister and minister responsible for negotiations with the Palestinians: Tzipi Livni
Environment Minister: Amir Peretz
Kadima, the other centrist party, which was expected to join the coalition government, dropped out of the line-up because the new, smaller cabinet – 22 members, down from 30 before, honouring Yesh Atid’s electoral pledge for smaller government – will be too small to accommodate a minister from the party, which holds just two Knesset seats.
Yuli Edelstein, from Likud-Israel Beitenu, will become the Speaker of the Knesset.