New Israeli Government Voted Into Office

 New Israeli Government Voted Into Office

The thirty-sixth government of Israel, or the Bennett–Lapid government, is the cabinet of Israel formed on 13 June 2021 after the 2021 Israeli legislative election.

On 2 June 2021, a coalition agreement was signed between Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Yamina, the Labor Party, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, Meretz, and the United Arab List.

The government is expected to have two prime ministers during its duration. Namely, under a rotation agreement, Naftali Bennett of Yamina will serve as prime minister until 27 August 2023, when he will cede the position to Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, who would then hold office until November 2025.  In addition, Yamina and Yesh Atid will become the fourth and fifth parties, respectively, to lead an Israeli government – following Mapai/Labor Party (1948–1977; 1984–1986; 1992–1996; 1999–2001), Likud (1977–1984; 1986–1992; 1996–1999; 2001–2005; 2009–2021), and Kadima (2005–2009).

The government is the first to include an independent Arab Israeli party as an official member of the governing coalition.  Furthermore, it is Israel's second government, after the Netanyahu-Gantz rotation government, to function under an automatic and legally-binding system of rotation in the position of prime minister.  The investiture vote in the Knesset was held on 13 June 2021.  The Bennett-Lapid government was confirmed by a vote of 60 to 59, with one MK from the United Arab List abstaining.  Bennett was thus sworn in as Israel's 13th prime minister, with Lapid serving as alternative prime minister.

Investiture Vote

The outgoing speaker of the Knesset, Yariv Levin, a member of prime minister Netanyahu's Likud party, had indicated that he would attempt to delay the holding of an investiture vote for the proposed Bennett-Lapid government for as long as legally possible.  Thus, on 3 June 2021, some of the parties of the "change bloc" initiated a motion of no-confidence in Levin, with the aim of replacing him with Mickey Levy of Yesh Atid and bringing the investiture vote forward.  Immediately thereafter, Yamina MK Nir Orbach indicated that he would oppose the move, and it was then instead unilaterally endorsed by all six MKs from the Joint List.  However, both Yesh Atid and Yamina rejected the Joint List's offer of support, and Yamina even indicated that it would only support the election of a new speaker when the new government itself had already been sworn in.  On 13 June 2021, the incoming government nominated Levy for the post of speaker, while Shas in turn nominated its MK Yaakov Margi. Levy defeated Margi by a margin of 67–52 and immediately took over the presiding of the Knesset session from Levin.

The investiture vote for the government was also held on 13 June 2021.  While the eight parties of the so-called "change bloc" coalition formally had an absolute majority consisting of 62 Knesset members, one Yamina MK, Amichai Chikli, had already ruled out supporting the incoming government.  As of the proposed government's announcement on 2 June 2021, the only opposition MKs who had not yet declared how they would vote were the two members of the Arab Israeli Ta'al faction within the Joint List.  On 13 June 2021, Ta'al's MKs indicated that they would be ready to abstain during the investiture vote if the proposed government lost its own majority through defections. This would likely have allowed the Bennett-Lapid government to be confirmed to office by a plurality of MKs.  Ultimately, the new government was successfully voted in by a margin of 60 to 59, with the only abstention being that of United Arab List MK Said al-Harumi.

 

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-sixth_government_of_Israel