ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU, GANTZ AGREE TO SWEAR IN UNITY GOVERNMENT NEXT WEEK

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist party of Blue and White, agreed on Wednesday to swear in the new unity government next week. Mr Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party and Gantz’s Blue and White party said that the new coalition will be inaugurated on May 13 if the Parliament will approve the unity deal.

The parliament plenum had been prepared for all-night votes on some 1000 proposed amendments to the coalition deal submitted by the opposition, in order to pass the agreement before today, the deadline after which a mandate given to the pair to form the government.