Likud party infighting delays swearingin
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival-turned-partner, Benny Gantz, on Thursday postponed the swearingin of their controversial new government as the Israeli leader rushed to quell infighting within his Likud party.
In a joint announcement, the two men said they would hold a swearingin ceremony on Sunday to give Netanyahu more time to hand out coveted Cabinet appointments to members of his party.
After three deadlocked and divisive elections, and a year and a half of political paralysis, Israel had hoped to swear in the new government on Thursday.
Netanyahu and Gantz, a former military chief, announced last month they would put their differences aside and join forces to steer the country through the coronavirus crisis and its severe economic fallout.
It came at the price of the dissolution of Gantz’s Blue and White party and his reneging on a key campaign promise not to serve under Netanyahu, who is scheduled to go on trial this month for corruption charges. Their muchscrutinized coalition deal, resulting in the most bloated government in Israeli history and new legislation to help Netanyahu cling to power, could come about only after the country’s Supreme Court ruled it had no legal grounds to block it.
Despite the criticism, Gantz argued that teaming up with Netanyahu was the only way to avoid a fourth election.
The coalition deal calls for Netanyahu to serve as prime minister for the government’s first 18 months before being replaced by Gantz for the next 18 months.
Their blocs will have a similar number of ministers and virtual veto power over the other’s major decisions. Because Netanyahu’s bloc includes several smaller parties, he has only a limited number of Cabinet ministries to hand out to the Likud rank and file.
Yohanan Plesner, president of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute, said the incoming government’s main achievement would be ending the longest political deadlock in Israeli history. But he said the deep distrust between the opposing camps left doubts on how they could govern together.
“The jury is still out if indeed the political deadlock is over and if we have a broad government that will exercise its authority,” he said.
Gantz will start out as defense minister, with party colleague and fellow retired military chief Gabi Ashkenazi serving as foreign minister. Netanyahu’s top deputy in Likud, outgoing Foreign Minister Israel Katz, will become finance minister. Yariv Levin, perhaps Netanyahu’s closest ally, will become the new parliament speaker. The coalition will also include a pair of ultraOrthodox Jewish parties and some other individual defectors to add up to 73 out of parliament’s 120 members.
Netanyahu has been indicted with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals involving trading favors with wealthy media moguls. He denies any wrongdoing.