Israel's coalition government holds to center
Two months in, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid remain both partners and rivals as the new government passes a budget, grapples with COVID-19 and Iran and seeks to strengthen already warm ties with the Biden administration.
"A brand-new Bennett"
It was June 13, exactly two months ago today, that the coalition government of current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Yamina Party and Foreign Minister and alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, leader of Yesh Atid, took over from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
Lapid was the leader of the opposition in the fourth and final effort to oust Netanyahu, but he needed Bennett, who is to the right of Netanyahu, to close the deal, with a razor-thin margin. The only topic that seemed to unify the coalition, which also includes the Arab Raam Party, was their opposition to Netanyahu. The government therefore hangs by a thread that could unravel with just one or two defections.
The passage of the Israeli budget this month, despite the fragility of the coalition, was considered a breakthrough of sorts and testimony to Bennett’s leadership so far.
