When compromise sets the tone

This government was born to compromise.

Well, not exactly. It was really born to move former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu aside. To do that, however, it had to bring together disparate parts: from the hard Left to the hard Right; Islamists with religious Zionists.

But once those disparate parts have been brought together, the government can only survive if those parts compromise.

The leaders of the government like to call it a “national unity” government. But since it does not include any representatives of the haredi community, a community that makes up some 13% of the country, the term “national unity” here is a bit of a misnomer.

A better term, or at least a more accurate one, would be a “government of compromise” – because if it is to survive, compromise needs to be this government’s default mode.

The leaders of the eight factions that make up this coalition