Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not celebrating today. President Reuven Rivlin tapped him this morning to form the next government, but Netanyahu knows that the task is going to be complicated, perhaps impossible. Rivlin himself said at a press conference, "I am under the impression that none of the candidates have a chance to form a coalition."

Netanyahu now enjoys the endorsement of 52 Knesset members. His difficulty will not only be gathering 61 of them to support him and form a stable coalition. He will also have to thwart efforts by Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett to form their own coalition.

On April 4, the day before the president consulted with representatives of the various parties, Netanyahu held an emergency meeting with some of the people closest to him. The mood was of defeat. Earlier this month, Israel’s political leader marked 12 consecutive years as prime minister, but the anniversary was bittersweet.

In the meeting, Netanyahu told his associates he had received information indicating that the anti-Netanyahu bloc had already agreed to form a coalition to replace him. It would be a rotation government headed first by Bennett and then by Lapid. Netanyahu explained that during consultations in the president’s house the following day, his opponents would recommend one of the two.