JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli President on Tuesday handed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the difficult task of trying to form a new government, giving the controversial Israeli leader a chance to extend his long term in office.
But with the newly elected parliament deeply divided and the prime minister on trial on corruption charges, Netanyahu had little to celebrate.
He now has six weeks to lure his political enemies into coalition, an effort that seems unlikely to succeed. At the same time, those opponents will work to form an alternative government that could end his 12-year reign.
Meeting with members of his Likud party, Netanyahu struck a statesmanlike tone by saying he would be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, Jewish and Arab, religious and secular.
“We will take care of everyone,” he said, pledging to “take Israel out of the cycle of recurring elections and establish a strong government for all citizens of Israel.”
President Reuven Rivlin turned to Netanyahu in the wake of Israel’s fourth unclear election in the past two years.
In a post-election ritual, Rivlin had consulted on Monday with each of the 13 parties elected to the Knesset or parliament, hoping to find consensus on a candidate for prime minister. But neither Netanyahu nor his main rival, Yair Lapid, got the approval of a majority of lawmakers.
Announcing his decision on Tuesday, a haunted Rivlin said no candidate had the backing needed to form a majority coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. He also noted that there are many doubts that Netanyahu will remain in office during his trial.
Still, he said nothing in the law prevented Netanyahu from continuing as prime minister and said he believed Netanyahu had a better chance than his rivals to amalgamate a coalition.
“This is not an easy decision on a moral and ethical basis,” Rivlin said. “The State of Israel cannot be taken for granted. And I fear for my country. “
Netanyahu was not present at Tuesday’s announcement, as is tradition, and later Rivlin did not appear with Netanyahu in the usual photo of the new parliament swearing-in – moves local media interpreted as a show of the president’s misfortune with the situation.
Netanyahu now has an initial period of 28 days to form a coalition, a period that Rivlin could extend for another two weeks.
Netanyahu has received the approval of 52 lawmakers, more than his rivals, but still not the majority of 61 seats needed to form a government.
Getting the support of nine more lawmakers won’t be easy. Netanyahu will use his formidable powers of persuasion, coupled with generous offers from powerful ministries, to court his potential partners.
Netanyahu will likely need the support of Raam, a small Arab Islamist party. Raam’s leader, Mansour Abbas, has left the door open to work with Netanyahu in helping the Israeli Arab sector, which has long suffered from crime, discrimination and poverty.
But one of Netanyahu’s allies, the Religious Zionist Party, has an openly racist platform and refuses to serve in a government with Arab partners. Netanyahu could call on the rabbis to serve as the party’s spiritual guides in the hope of changing his mind.
Netanyahu is also likely to need the support of Yamina, a religious-nationalist party led by a former ally turned rival, Naftali Bennett, who was also cool in an alliance with Arab parties.
Bennett, a former Netanyahu assistant, promised on Tuesday to negotiate “in good faith,” but made no promises to his former mentor.
Netanyahu’s last hope will be to try to lure “defectors” from other opposition parties. For now, however, Netanyahu’s opponents have vowed to remain steadfast, especially after the painful experience of the previous administration.
After last year’s elections, Netanyahu and his main rival at the time, Benny Gantz, voted in favor of an “emergency” government to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Their partnership was plagued by infighting and collapsed in six months, leading to the March 23 elections.
“Netanyahu’s chances of forming a government, as it now appears, are quite low,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
Netanyahu’s corruption trial is looming over the negotiations, which resumed this week with testimony from the first of a string of witnesses who testified against him.
Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribes in a series of scandals. He has denied the charges and this week compared the case to “an attempted coup”.
Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, acknowledged on Tuesday that the law left Rivlin “no choice” but said nevertheless that Netanyahu’s wiretapping was a “shameful shame that sullies Israel.”
Lapid has offered an alternative: a power-sharing arrangement with Bennett that would allow the two men to rotate between the prime minister’s orbit. They are expected to enter into intensive negotiations in the coming weeks.
Plesner, a former member of the Knesset, said the partnership between Bennett and Lapid “has a reasonable likelihood of realization.”
Lapid could deliver on his main campaign promise to oust Netanyahu, while Bennett, whose party has only seven seats, would be the first to become prime minister.
“It’s a very lucrative deal for both of them,” said Plesner.
Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Israel’s Hebrew University, said Netanyahu’s opponents who share his harsh ideology, including Bennett, would rather see him fail before uniting against him.
“Otherwise they would have been viewed as traitors from their own right-wing grassroots perspective,” she said.
The new parliament takes office at a time of deep polarization in Israeli society. Last month’s election was seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s divisive leadership style, and the result was an ongoing stalemate.
Netanyahu’s supporters consider him a global statesman ideally suited to run the country. His opponents accuse him of pushing the country through repeated elections in hopes of establishing a parliament that will grant him immunity from criminal charges.
As a sign of that division, about 100 protesters hoisted LGBT pride flags and a mock submarine during a noisy rally outside the Knesset when the new parliament was sworn in. The pride flags were aimed at the pro-Netanyahu religious Zionists, whose members are openly homophobic, while the submarine points to a graft scandal involving the purchase of German submarines.
When the new Knesset was sworn in, Rivlin called for unity. It was the last time Rivlin addressed such a meeting, and the outgoing president, who is leaving office this summer, seemed emotional.
“If we don’t learn and don’t find a model of partnership that allows us to live together here, out of mutual respect for each other, out of commitment to each other and genuine solidarity, our national resilience will be in great jeopardy.” he said.