JERUSALEM (AP) – The President of Israel on Tuesday gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the difficult task of trying to form a government out of the fragmented parliament in the country, and gave the fighting leader the chance to extend his long term while rightly stands on corruption charges.
In his announcement, President Reuven Rivlin acknowledged that no party leader has the necessary support to form a 120-seat majority coalition in the Knesset. He also noted that many believe Netanyahu is unfit to serve as prime minister in light of his legal problems.
Nevertheless, Rivlin said there is nothing in the law that prevents Netanyahu from holding office. After consulting with the 13 parties in the newly elected parliament, Rivlin said Netanyahu has the best chance for any candidate to form a new government.
“I decided to entrust him with the task,” said Rivlin from Jerusalem.
“This is not an easy decision on a moral and ethical basis,” he added. “The state of Israel is not self-evident. And I fear for my country. ”
With this, Rivlin brought to light the twin dramas about the future of the country and the fate of Netanyahu, which gave the longest-serving prime minister of Israel a new chance to try to save his career. Netanyahu now has up to six weeks to try to form a coalition. If he fails, Rivlin could give another party leader the opportunity to try to form a government – otherwise the country could be plunged into another election.
Netanyahu has the most support – 52 seats – in the Israeli Knesset. But 61 seats are not yet needed for a majority. He is likely to use his persuasive powers to attract a number of adversaries, including nearby former assistants who have vowed never to serve under him again, with generous offers from powerful government ministries or legislative committees.
The task will not be easy.
To secure a majority, Netanyahu is likely to need the support of a small Arab Islamic party, and one of its partners, the Religious Zionists, has an openly racist platform, saying they will not be in a government with Arab partners. does not serve.
“The chances that Netanyahu will form a government, as it currently stands, are quite low,” said Yohan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu is also likely to need the support of the Yamina, a right-wing party led by a former ally. Yamina’s leader Naftali Bennett has had a strained relationship with Netanyahu in recent years. He was also kind in an alliance with Arab parties.
Bennett called for the formation of a “stable, right-wing” government on Tuesday and promised to negotiate in good faith. But he did not commit to supporting Netanyahu.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, leader of the center-right Yesh Atid party, acknowledged that the law had left Rivlin with “no choice but to denounce the development as a” shameful disgrace to Israel “.
Lapid offered an alternative: a power-sharing arrangement with Bennett, which would turn the two men into the prime minister’s job. They are expected to conduct intense negotiations in the coming weeks.
In a sign of the challenge before Netanyahu, about 100 protesters hoisted LGBT pride flags and an apparent submarine – a reference to a vaccine scandal involving the purchase of German parts – in a noisy demonstration that was heard on Tuesday when officials started with the curse. during the celebrations of the new parliament in a courtyard. Leaders of the party of ultranationalist religious Zionism, which supports Netanyahu, are openly homophobic.
Netanyahu’s coalition talks will be conducted in the shadow of his corruption trial. While a ruling is months or even years away, the proceedings are expected to take place up to three days a week, an embarrassment and time-consuming distraction that will overshadow Netanyahu’s appeal to his opponents.
In court, he is facing three counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery in three separate cases. Proceedings resumed on Tuesday, although the prime minister did not appear in court.
A key witness saw Netanyahu on Monday as an image-obsessed leader who forced a prominent news website to help his family and smear out his opponents.
Netanyahu has denied all charges and has accused national prosecutors of prosecuting him in an attempt to oust him. “This is what a coup attempt looks like,” he said.
The court proceedings this week have focused on the most serious case against Netanyahu, in which he is accused of promoting regulations that provided hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecommunications company in exchange for positive coverage on the popular news website Walla.
Ilan Yeshua, the former editor-in-chief of Walla, described a system in which the owners of Bezeq, Shaul and Iris Elovitch, repeatedly put him under pressure to publish favorable things about Netanyahu and smear out the prime minister’s rivals.
The explanation he gave by the couple? “This is what the prime minister wanted,” he said.
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Kellman reports from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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