Netanyahu Clings to Premiership in Power-Sharing Deal With Rival
Netanyahu Seals Power-Share Deal With Rival to Tackle Virus
(Bloomberg) -- Benjamin Netanyahu and his top rival signed a power-sharing deal that will allow the indicted Israeli prime minister to cling to power for 18 more months and permit lawmakers to quickly take unprecedented action to annex territory Palestinians claim for a state.
The agreement Monday with former military chief Benny Gantz was struck with the declared purpose of providing emergency cover during the coronavirus crisis, and brought the country close to emerging from more than a year of political paralysis. It was made possible after the general, citing changed circumstances, reneged on his refusal to serve with Netanyahu while he faces criminal charges in three influence-peddling cases.
Netanyahu, the head of parliament’s biggest party, Likud, is to serve until October 2021, and Gantz, for the following 18 months. The power-sharing deal has to be enshrined in law for the government to be installed. Shortly after the pact was signed, a good governance group petitioned the High Court of Justice to rule that Netanyahu can’t serve while under a legal cloud.
Markets were unmoved by the deal.
Read more: Israel Set for Unity Government as Anti-Netanyahu Bloc Splits
The formation of a joint administration after weeks of troubled negotiations would extricate Israel from its policy gridlock just as it needs to allocate enormous sums to respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
“I promised the State of Israel a national emergency government that would work to save the lives and livelihoods of Israel’s citizens,” Netanyahu tweeted after the signing.
Gantz observed on Twitter that “we averted a fourth election.” President Reuven Rivlin had given the men until May 7 to clinch a coalition agreement or send the country to a fourth round of voting in little over a year. The first three ballots ended inconclusively.
The deal may also improve Netanyahu’s legal position by cementing his status as the people’s choice to lead the country, according to Abraham Diskin, an emeritus professor of political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“He is the prime minister blessed with the legitimacy of the majority of the people, including Gantz,” Diskin said before the agreement was reached. That will shift the pressure to Israel’s High Court, he said.
Under the agreement, if the court rules that Netanyahu cannot sit atop a government, then the coalition breaks up and Israel goes to elections. The prime minister’s trial, delayed on the ground of the coronavirus outbreak, is to start in late May.
The Israeli leader is accused of illicitly taking gifts and scheming to tilt legislation to benefit media publishers in exchange for sympathetic coverage.
Netanyahu had vowed during nearly a year of election campaigns to annex some West Bank territory, and the pact allows lawmakers to bring such a proposal before parliament from July 1. The Trump administration, in a break from longstanding American policy and in defiance of widespread international opposition, gave Israel the go-ahead to extend its sovereignty over 30% of West Bank land in its controversial Middle East peace plan released in January.
Unilateral annexation would sap the Palestinians’ dream of an independent state with the West Bank as its heart, and Palestinians on Monday lamented the prospect of another Netanyahu-led government.
“Israel now will have the same racist, extremist anti-democratic Prime Minister who’s indicted on 3 corruption charges, & will also have annexation on the agenda,” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said on Twitter. “Covid-19 is no longer the greatest threat!”
Gantz had received first crack at building a coalition after Israel’s third ballot on March 2, but faced stiff resistance within his camp to cooperating with the non-Zionist Joint List of Arab parties. As that option unraveled and the virus crisis deepened, he began focusing on governing together with Netanyahu to address the mounting toll of the health emergency and avoid a fourth round of voting at this delicate time.
Israel, a country of 9 million, has nearly 14,000 confirmed cases of the disease, and more than 180 people have died. Lockdown measures and travel restrictions, slightly loosened on Sunday, have sent unemployment surging to 26% from less than 4%, and the Bank of Israel predicts a 5.3% economic contraction this year. The Finance Ministry sees joblessness still hovering around 10% by the end of the year.
Officials recently approved an augmented 80 billion shekel ($22.5 billion) aid program to address the virus’s impact, equal to about 6% of gross domestic product. The power-sharing deal provides for a two-year budget for 2020-2021.
Gantz’s pivot to a unity government initially led by Netanyahu caused the splintering of his Blue and White bloc, an amalgam of politicians from across the political spectrum formed expressly to oust the scandal-tainted prime minister.
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