Israel’s new government is set to be sworn in on 13 June barring any last-minute change of heart from the razor-thin 61-seat majority coalition. It should spell the end of incumbent Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s current 12-year tenure but with just a one-seat majority at the 120 seat Knesset, via an unlikely cobbling together of far right, left and Arab Israeli parties, there could conceivably be a late twist (MEES, 4 June).
Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party managed to garner 30 seats in March elections, the most of any other party. But Likud failed to secure the support of a further 31 Knesset members needed to form a government (MEES, 2 April). The mandate thus passed to Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party which won 17 seats. He managed to draw on anti-Netanyahu sentiment to band together unlikely allies. (CONTINUED - 167 WORDS)