Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue & White party leader Benny Gantz have signed an agreement on the formation of a unity government, Israel's 35th government.
Under the agreement, Netanyahu will serve as prime minister for eighteen months and Gantz for eighteen months after him, thus shortening the government's term in advance to three years from the normal four. Blue & White will receive half the portfolios in the new government, and Gantz will be deputy prime minister with a new status that will be defined in legislation. He will serve as minister of defense while Gabi Ashkenazi will be foreign minister.
Avi Nissenkorn (Blue & White) will be minister of justice, and Labor Party MKs Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli will also probably enter the government, with the economy and welfare portfolios.
One of the obstacles to reaching an agreement between Likud and Blue & White was the petitions to the High Court of Justice seeking to disqualify Netanyahu from forming a new government in view of the criminal charges on which he is about to stand trial. The agreement provides that if the High Court of Justice does disqualify him, then the Knesset will be dissolved and elections will be held.
Likud and Blue & White now have to muster the support of 61 members of Knesset and to work on ministerial appointments from both sides. The new government needs to be sworn in within seven days of the presentation of the signatures of 61 Knesset members to the president.
The agreement came after the second meeting between Netanyahu and Gantz today. The two men met early this morning, but that meeting ended after an hour with no agreement.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 20, 2020
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