Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held on to his job on Wednesday, announcing that he had hammered together a new coalition government just ahead of a midnight legal deadline, but with a knife-edge majority of just one seat in the 120-member parliament, expectations were that he would have to expand the ruling alliance beyond his natural religious and rightist partners or battle for survival at every vote.
“I am leaving here to call the president and the speaker of the parliament to inform them that I have been able to build a government,” Netanyahu said in remarks at the Knesset after marathon talks with Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett. “We need to launch it next week and we shall do so.”
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s office said he had sent a written note followed up with a telephone call.
Photo: AFP
“I am honored to inform you that I have been successful in forming a government, which I will request is brought before the Knesset for its approval as soon as possible,” Rivlin’s office quoted the note as saying.
“The negotiations are over,” Bennett said on Twitter. “Now we get to work.”
The news came just over an hour ahead of a legal deadline at midnight after which the task of forming a government would have been given to another party leader — most likely Isaac Herzog, head of the center-left Zionist Union, which won 24 seats in the March 17 election, behind 30 for Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud.
The deal with Bennett leaves Netanyahu in command of 61 Knesset votes, bought at the cost of major concessions to his partners.
Analysts say he will be at the mercy of rebels, caprice, or even a bad cold the first time the coalition faces a crucial vote.
He would then be forced to expand the ruling alliance beyond his natural religious and rightist partners, and turn reluctantly to the Zionist Union, which has so far said it will sit in opposition.
“Netanyahu is left with an unmanageable situation,” Tel Aviv University political scientist Emmanuel Navon said.
“The first thing he’ll do tomorrow... is take his phone and start working on a coalition with [the Zionist Union],” he said.
Netanyahu “is a general without soldiers,” the Maariv daily wrote.
Netanyahu himself said he hoped to expand the alliance, without elaborating.
“I have said that 61 is a good number and 61-plus is better still, but it starts at 61,” Netanyahu said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS