After the 2015-election, it was clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would form a right-wing government. He had already moved further to the right at the end of 2014.
As a surprise came the fact that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared as late as on May 4 that he would not be part of the new coalition government. He had dismantled the Likud-Beitenu faction in 2014 which, at the time, could be seen as a tactical move. It was neither clear whether it was just a tempest in a teapot nor whether this strategy would work out. With only 5.11% of the vote and 6 seats, Yisrael Beiteinu lost more than half of its 13 seats. In May 2015, Avigdor Lieberman probably came to the conclusion that it was time for his party to regain its vigor on the opposition banks. Is this a smart decision? He could as well end up as a total non-entity. Time will tell how wise a strategist he is.
With Avigdor Lieberman joining the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu had only little time and options left to form a new coalition until midnight on May 6. Some 90 minutes before the deadline, he was able to present his new government. His majority is the thinnest possible, controlling 61 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Will this tiny margin discipline the coalition or will it lead to internal blackmailing, soon leading to early elections?
So far, Benjamin Netanyahu has proven to be a master when it comes to the conservation of power. He has already been in office for some 9 years, making him the second longest serving prime minister in Israeli history, just behind the founder and first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Will he manage to keep the current flea circus together for four years?
Netanyahu’s new coalition government is made up of his Likud party, which controls 30 seats in the Knesset, the new, center-right Kulanu (All of Us) of Moshe Kahlon, who made his party win 10 seats, the religious, the Zionist Jewish Home party of right-wing extremist Naftali Bennett with its 8 seats, the ultra-orthodox Shas party with its 7 seats and the ultra-orthodox United Torah Judaism alliance with 6 seats in parliament.
Netanyahu was only able to cobble together this coalition thanks to major, partly costly concessions to his governmental partners. The army service reform for the ultraorthodox was stopped, students and ultra-orthodox seminaries will receive generous subsidies, the child support cuts were cancelled.
Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home was the last party to join the coalition. Since, at that moment, Avigdor Lieberman had already announced that he would not be part of the government, the Zionist, right-wing leader had a strong bargaining hand. At the last minute, he for instance asked for the justice ministry for Ayelet Shaked, a lady who has been most vocal regarding her contempt for the Israeli supreme court which, in her eyes, is too liberal.
Many of Netanyahu’s Likud MPs or not only angry at coalition partners (notably Bennett) for their excessive demands, but also at Bibi himself, who made too many concessions in their eyes, not being able of taking advantage of the party’s 30-seat win in the 2015-election.
Will Netanyahu be able to hold this coalition together? His strategy may be to have an additional party join the government. He has already made an announcement in this sense.
Article added on May 7, 2015 at 19:45 CET
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