Likud’s Yariv Levin thought planning to delay formation of new government in bid to woo defectors, leading new coalition to try to oust him, but Nir Orbach refuses to go along
The move to replace Likud’s Yariv Levin is designed to deny the speaker the chance to drag his feet on scheduling a confidence vote on the new government, which if voted in would oust Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu from power after 12 years as prime minister.
However, shortly after the letter with the signatures of 61 lawmakers was submitted, Yamina MK Nir Orbach, who has been openly second-guessing in recent days his initial support for the broad-based coalition, said that he was withdrawing his name from the petition.
Orbach’s announcement meant that the vote no longer had a majority although it could still potentially pass if an opposing MK were to be absent at the time of the vote. Some MKs from the Joint List have not yet dismissed the possibility of voting to prop up the government, though the Arab-led party will not be in the coalition, so they could in any case lend their support to the ousting of Levin.
Yamina head Naftali Bennett and Orbach were set to meet on Thursday after holding a “good” meeting in the early hours of the morning after the coalition deal was announced and prior to the submission of the letter.
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In the letter to the Knesset’s secretary general, the change bloc asked that a vote to replace Levin with Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy as speaker be placed on the agenda at the next plenum session, which is set to take place on Monday.
The rushed timeline underlined fears in Lapid’s nascent coalition that Knesset members will get cold feet before the government is sworn in.
The so-called change coalition comprises a wide array of parties from the left to the pro-settlement right and includes the Islamist Ra’am faction, set to be the first-ever Arab party to join a government. It will be led by Bennett as prime minister for two years, before Lapid takes over for the remainder of the term.
But Likud and its allies are thought to be working furiously to convince right-wing members of the proposed coalition of 61 out of 120 MKs to mutiny and deny the government its necessary majority.
Yamina’s Amichai Chikli has already announced he will not support the coalition, depriving it of its 62nd MK. On Wednesday, Orbach announced he could vote against the new coalition, potentially dooming it.
Under the Knesset’s rules, the Knesset speaker has a week to schedule a vote on a new government after being informed of the need to do so in an official plenum session. That would potentially place the vote as late as June 14, giving Likud 12 days to try and flip Knesset members to its cause.
Netanyahu and his political allies have been pressing lawmakers in Yamina and fellow right-wing New Hope party not to form a government with Lapid, with that pressure expected to further grow in the days before the Knesset vote is held.
If the emerging government is sworn in, Israel will have a new prime minister for the first time since 2009. Along with the over 12 consecutive years he has served as premier since then, Netanyahu was also prime minister for three years in the late 1990s.
Under the emerging coalition agreements, Lapid will serve as foreign minister in the first two years of the government, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz will remain defense minister, and the treasury will be held by Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman. New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar will be justice minister, while Yamina’s Ayelet Shaked will be interior minister. Labor’s Merav Michaeli received the transportation portfolio and her fellow party member Omer Barlev will be public security minister. Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz will be appointed health minister, while fellow party member Tamar Zandberg will be environmental protection minister and Issawi Frej regional cooperation minister.
The final coalition agreements have yet to be formally released and negotiations are expected to continue until the swearing-in.
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