Benjamin Netanyahu Reaches Agreement to Form Coalition Government in Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, managed to meet the deadline for forming a government just two hours before midnight on Wednesday and entered into a fragile coalition with other parties. According to reports from informed sources, Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud party, along with Naftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing 'Jewish Home' party, intends to announce this coalition soon and finalize it. This coalition includes only 61 seats out of 120 in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, which is the minimum required by Israeli law. Thus, Mr. Netanyahu was able to conclude negotiations to form a cabinet after 42 days. According to the Israeli newspaper 'Haaretz', in the new Israeli government, the Ministry of Justice will be allocated to the 'Jewish Home' party. The 'Times of Israel' also confirmed this news and went further, stating that Ayelet Shaked, a 39-year-old woman with only two years of political experience, will become the Minister of Justice. The report also mentions that Mr. Netanyahu has agreed with Naftali Bennett to appoint him as Minister of Education and to consider a ministerial position for Uri Ariel, another member of the Jewish Home party, likely in the Ministry of Agriculture. However, the most controversial figure among these is Ayelet Shaked, who reportedly referred to 'all Palestinians' as 'enemies' in a Facebook post during the summer of 2014 when Israeli attacks on Gaza escalated, calling for their destruction and that of their cities and villages. This post has since been removed from Ms. Shaked's Facebook page. The 'Times of Israel' states that Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet finalized the foreign minister position and hopes to gain the approval of Isaac Herzog, the leader of the Zionist coalition. The Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, had only secured 30 seats in the Israeli elections six weeks ago. Mr. Netanyahu then entered into a coalition with the United Torah Judaism (six seats), Kulanu (ten seats), and Shas (seven seats), thus securing 53 seats in the Israeli parliament. However, his coalition on Wednesday night with the 'Jewish Home' party, which holds eight seats, results in a very fragile parliamentary majority.