Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fought back on Thursday against an agreement by his political opponents to unseat him, calling the new coalition government "dangerous".
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said late on Wednesday that he has managed to form a broad-based coalition to unseat Mr Netanyahu and end the reign of the longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history.
Mr Netanyahu responded on Twitter that "all legislators elected by votes from the right must oppose this dangerous left-wing government".
If ratified by parliament in a confidence vote in the coming week, the new Israeli government will make history by becoming the first to include an Arab party after Mansour Abbas, head of the conservative RAAM, signed the agreement.
The coalition commands a razor-thin majority of 61 votes in parliament.
Now the question is whether the group's votes will hold together to name a new parliament speaker. The speaker would preside over a Knesset vote required to confirm the new government.
The current parliament speaker is a Netanyahu ally who could use his position to delay the vote and give Mr Netanyahu more time to sabotage the coalition.
As the Lapid-Bennett coalition was coming together in recent days, Mr Netanyahu and his supporters ramped up a pressure campaign against former hawkish allies, including right-wing nationalist tech millionaire Naftali Bennett and his closest ally the Yamina party, Ayelet Shaked.
Mr Netanyahu accused them of betraying right-wing values. His supporters launched vicious social media campaigns and staged noisy protests outside Mr Shaked's home.
The prime minister's Likud party also advertised a demonstration on Thursday night outside the home of Yamina lawmaker Nir Orbach, urging him to quit the coalition.
That's a taste of the pressure to be expected for lawmakers on the right, while some on the left now have time to think about whether they will pay for this partnership in the next election.
"There will be a lot of pressure, especially on right-wingers, especially for religious right-wingers," Gideon Rahat, a political-science professor at Hebrew University, told the Associated Press.
"They will go to the synagogue and people will pressure them. It will be a nightmare for some of them."
Mr Netanyahu and his supporters called a meeting later on Thursday to discuss their next steps.
Should last-minute defections scupper the "change" alliance, Israel would likely have to hold yet another election, the fifth in bout two years.
Coalition government formed
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Yair Lapid fell behind with 45 nominations in consultations with the president. AP -
Mr Netanyahu’s bloc could be boosted by the right-wing Yamina party, which nominated its leader Naftali Bennett for the premiership. Reuters -
Israeli Arab politician, leader of the United Arab list, Mansour Abbas, is seen as a potential kingmaker in resolving the impasse. AP -
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin voiced doubt that any candidate can forge a majority coalition. AFP -
Mr Netanyahu's fragile coalition with Benny Gantz collapsed in December. AP
"I succeeded," Mr Lapid, a former TV news anchor, wrote on Facebook. "I promise that this government will work in the service of all of the citizens of Israel, those who voted for it and those who did not."
Mr Bennett would serve first as prime minister in a rotation agreement, with Mr Lapid to take over after two years.
"With the help of God, we will do together what is good for Israel and we'll get Israel back on track," Mr Bennett told Israel's President Reuven Rivlin after Mr Lapid informed Mr Rivlin of their coalition.
Mr Lapid was tasked with forming a government after Mr Netanyahu failed to put together his own coalition following March elections, the fourth inconclusive vote in less than two years.
Mr Netanyahu has become a divisive figure in Israeli politics over his tenure and is currently facing criminal charges.
Three parties in the last election were led by former top aides who fell out with him.
To build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Mr Lapid had to sign individual agreements with seven parties.
Who is in the new Israeli coalition?
- Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid (centrist) with 17 seats
- Benny Gantz's Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) (centrist) with eight
- Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu (centre-right to right-wing nationalist) with seven
- Merav Michaeli's Labor (social-democratic) with seven
- Naftali Bennett's Yamina (right-wing) with seven
- Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope (centre-right to right-wing) with six
- Nitzan Horowitz's Meretz (left-wing, social-democratic) six
- Mansour Abbas's RAAM (Arab Islamic) with four
Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who unsuccessfully challenged Mr Netanyahu in three previous votes, tweeted it was a "night of great hope," as he headed to Washington for pre-scheduled talks.
The change alliance also includes the Arab Israeli Islamic conservative party RAAM, whose head Mansour Abbas announced that he had joined in order to secure funding and policies to benefit Israel's 20 per cent minority of Palestinian descent.
"I just signed an agreement with Yair Lapid so that he can declare that he can form a government after reaching . agreements on various issues that serve the interest of Arab society," he said.
Other Arab lawmakers supported the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin from outside his coalition in the 1990s, but Mr Abbas was the first Arab politician in Israel to openly bargain for a role in the coalition, said political analyst Afif Abu Much.
Mr Abu Much noted that lawmakers with other parties representing Arab citizens of Israel announced they would oppose the government headed by Mr Bennett, a strong supporter of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Wednesday night's deal deepens the woes of Mr Netanyahu, 71, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office – accusations he denies.
If he loses power, he will not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity, and will lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.
The swearing-in is expected to take place on June 9, giving Mr Netanyahu another week to try to persuade legislators to leave the new coalition.
– Additional reporting by agencies
Benjamin Netanyahu's political career – in pictures
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press at southern port of Eilat, on March 10, 2014, as Israel displayed advanced rockets seized from a ship allegedly transporting arms from Iran to Gaza. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, the then Israeli permanent envoy to the United Nations, holds up a file on Nazi criminal Alois Brunner during a news conference at the UN headquarters in November 1987. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, left, adviser to the then Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, right, in Madrid on October 30, 1991. AFP -
Palestinians listen to the radio for the results of Israeli elections where Benjamin Netanyahu was an important player, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 30, 1996. AFP -
Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shakes hands with ultra orthodox students of a religious school in Beni Brak, near Tel Aviv, in May 1996. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the joint session of US Congress as Speaker of the US House Newt Gingrich, right, and US Vice President Al Gore, left, listen on July 10, 1996. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, second left, US President Bill Clinton, right, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, left, and King Hussein of Jordan at the White House in October 1996. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu announces his resignation from the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, during a meeting of the Likud party central committee in Tel Aviv, on May 27, 1999, following his election defeat to Ehud Barak. AFP -
Mr Netanyahu, then Israeli finance minister, visits the biology lab of the Lauder-Reut school in the Romanian capital Bucharest on December 18, 2003. AFP -
Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu visits an archaeological site just outside the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem, on February 2, 2009. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Shimon Peres, right, escort Pope Benedict XVI after the pontiff's arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on May 11, 2009. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US President Barack Obama during their meeting at the White House in Washington on May 18, 2009. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu, left, Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, second left, and Slovenian Prime minister Borut Pahor, second right, at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development meeting on May 27, 2010 in Paris. AFP -
Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak watch as Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, second right, is received by his father Noam, right, following his release from the Hamas captivity, in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2011. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses a diagram to describe Iran's nuclear programme at the 67th United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 27, 2012, in New York. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, his wife Sara, then US Vice President Joe Biden, right and former British prime minister Tony Blair attend a state memorial service for Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon on January 13, 2014. Getty Images -
Benjamin Netanyahu along with other heads of state takes part in a unity rally in Paris on January 11, 2015, after a three-day killing spree by homegrown extremists. AFP -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump before the US president's departure from Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017. Getty Images -
Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, greet supporters during his post-ballot speech on April 10, 2019 in Tel Aviv. Getty Images -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, US President Donald Trump and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, after signing the Abraham Accord in Washington in September 2020. AFP -
Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said meets Benjamin Netanyahu in Muscat. EPA -
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi (right) speaks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 18, 2017, in their first public meeting together. Reuters -
King Abdullah II of Jordan shakes hands with Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their meeting in Amman on January 16, 2014. AFP
