The thirty-fifth government of Israel (Hebrew: מֶמְשֶׁלֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל הַשְׁלוֹשִׁים וְחָמֵשׁ, romanized: Mem'shelet Yisra'el HaShloshim VeHamesh), or the Netanyahu–Gantz government, was the government of Israel which was sworn in on 17 May 2020 and dissolved on 13 June 2021.
It was originally expected to be established following the April 2019 election, but after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a government, the Knesset dissolved itself, thereby setting up a snap election that took place on 17 September 2019. Following the second election, no one was able to form a government again, and a third election took place on 2 March 2020. An agreement was ultimately reached on 20 April 2020, between Netanyahu and MK Benny Gantz on the formation of a national unity government. The Knesset, and with it the current government's legislative operations, was again dissolved on 23 December 2020, resulting in the 2021 election. On 13 June 2021, in a 60–59 vote with 1 abstention, the Knesset voted to approve the thirty-sixth government of Israel led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, ending Netanyahu's 12-year second tenure as prime minister and sending Likud into the opposition.
Background
First election – April 2019
After the April 2019 Israeli legislative election, the Blue and White faction leader Benny Gantz conceded, paving the way for incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Likud, to begin talks with other parties to form a governing coalition.
On 15 and 16 April, leaders of all the parties who won seats in the Knesset met with President Reuven Rivlin to recommend a designated person to form a government. Netanyahu received recommendations from leaders representing 65 seats in the Knesset, whereas Gantz received recommendations from leaders representing only 45 seats in the Knesset. Leaders of the two Arab parties, representing 10 seats in the Knesset, declined to make any recommendation.
Second election – September 2019
A second election was held in September 2019. This time, Blue and White overcame the Likud by a single seat.
On election night, Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu called for a "broad liberal government" that includes both Blue and White and Likud, and reiterated that he did not want to form any majority with the Arab parties. Benny Gantz claimed Prime ministership and Blue and White repeated that they would not form a government with Netanyahu, although they were open to one with Likud. Benyamin Netanyahu called for a "strong Zionist government". On the left, Labor-Gesher stated it wanted to bring Arab parties "to the table", some of which are open to recommending Gantz.
On 18 September, Netanyahu met with the emissaries of Yamina, Shas, and UTJ, to build a right-wing bloc to negotiate together.
On 19 September, Rivlin, Netanyahu and Gantz met during a memorial ceremony for Shimon Peres. Netanyahu urged Gantz to speak with him about forming a unity government, for the sake of avoiding a third election. Speaking for Blue and White, Gantz and Lapid both rejected Netanyahu's offer, saying Blue and White had won, and that Gantz had the right to lead a unity government committed to liberal policies on social issues, and thus refusing to discuss forming such a government with Netanyahu as long as right-wing religious parties were included. Lapid remarked that "if Netanyahu steps aside, we'll have a unity government". Lieberman likewise accused Netanyahu of "deception" by offering a unity government, but conditioning it on the inclusion of religious parties.
The same day, Gantz met with Nitzan Horowitz, leader of the Democratic Union. His aides said they expect a meeting with other party leaders, Odeh and Peretz. Labor-Gesher's six MKs could allow Netanyahu's bloc of 55 to find a majority. Likud thus reportedly offered Peretz the Finance portfolio, and a raise of the minimum wage, but the same sources say Peretz turned down the offer, which goes against a campaign vow. Netanyahu met with Degel HaTorah MKs, who, along with other Haredi parties (Shas, Agudat Yisrael), are starting to backtrack on their refusal not to govern with Lapid, in the case Lapid himself U-turns on Netanyahu. Lieberman was equivocal as to whether he would support Gantz, fearing to be sidelined from a unity government, or one that includes Haredim. According to Channel 13, Gantz reportedly promised to include Yisrael Beiteinu in any coalition.
Joint List and Balad
On 21 September, the 13 MKs from the Joint List met together. 10 of them—with three Balad MKs dissenting—expressed their readiness to nominate Gantz if he meets "basic demands" on the peace process, the Arab community's interests, and the Jewish nation-state law. President Rivlin met with party leaders on 22 September for the first day of talks. On 22 September 2019, the Joint List leader Ayman Odeh declared that the Joint List had agreed, by internal majority voting, to endorse Benny Gantz for prime minister. Though initial reports suggested that the Joint List's recommendation gave Gantz a 57 to 55 edge, Rivlin revealed on 23 September that three Balad MKs—elected as part of the Joint List—demanded that their names be removed from a list of nominees of Gantz. After a day of confusion, Tibi and Odeh—leaders of the Joint List—wrote a letter to Rivlin clarifying that the Joint List did not, in fact, have a unity agreement that legally binds individual parties to follow the party's nomination for the prime minister. As such, Balad's three MKs were legally allowed to ignore the Joint List's recommendation. As a result, Netanyahu lead Gantz in tallied recommendations by a 55 to 54 margin, with Yisrael Beiteinu and Balad not recommending anyone.
Recommendations
President Rivlin met with representatives of Blue and White, Likud, the Joint List, Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu on 22 September to ask for recommendations on whom to select for prime minister. The next day, he met with members of United Torah Judaism, Yamina, Labor-Gesher and the Democratic Union.
Rivlin officially chose Netanyahu to form the next government on 25 September, though he conditioned it on Netanyahu giving back the mandate if he failed to form a government, to avoid another dissolution of the Knesset.
Netanyahu agreed to this stipulation and called for a "unity government" between himself, his allied religious parties, and Gantz. Gantz refused, on the basis that he had promised during the election not to join a Netanyahu-led coalition, and furthermore that a coalition that included all of Netanyahu's allies would not truly be a unity government. Efforts to resolve the deadlock were unsuccessful, and on 21 October Netanyahu returned the mandate to Rivlin. On 23 October, Rivlin's office tasked Gantz with forming a government; this mandate was given back to Rivlin on 21 November. From that day, MKs had three weeks in which they could choose to nominate any of themselves to serve as PM. The selected MK would have had to secure the support of 61 MKs. However, no MK was able to form a government, and it was determined on 12 December that a third election would take place on 2 March 2020.
Third election – March 2020
Following the 2020 election in March, several parties supported Gantz in forming a new government, including Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu on 8 March and the Joint List on 9 March. However, Orly Levy announced on 10 March that she would not support a minority government and left the Labor–Gesher–Meretz alliance over this. Similarly, Blue and White MKs Zvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel had previously stated that they would not support a government that relied on the Joint List's support. There were reports on 10 March that Gantz was planning to form a minority government by 23 March. On 11 March, Lieberman and Labor party leader Amir Peretz reaffirmed that an alliance with the Joint List would not change their party's position on forming a political alliance with Gantz.
On 15 March, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced that he had asked Gantz to form the new government after Gantz received support from 61 of the 120 MKs. The elected MKs were sworn in the next day on the 16th.
Speakership constitutional crisis
Speaker Yuli Edelstein had held the job since 2013 and kept his job throughout the interim Knessets of 2019. He refused to leave this time and shut down the body as soon as it was sworn in. Edelstein proposed that left and right coalitions hold equal numbers of members in the parliamentary committees with Likud chairpersons, but the opposition refused. They then went to the courts to force the assembly to reopen, in which they were successful.
On 23 March, the Supreme Court of Israel unanimously ruled that Edelstein should hold a vote on his replacement as Speaker, criticizing him for defying a previous non-binding ruling by the court advising him to do so. Rather than comply, Edelstein stepped down as the Speaker of the Knesset on 25 March, the first time that a speaker has unilaterally resigned. The court subsequently ruled later on 25 March that Amir Peretz, as the most senior member of the Knesset, would be granted the authority to convene the Knesset for a vote on a new speaker. Gantz then announced that he would stand as a candidate for speaker, resulting in a split of the Blue and White coalition as well as announcements of a deal in which he would serve as speaker until a unity government is formed under Netanyahu, and then would serve as defense minister in the unity government until replacing Netanyahu as prime minister in September 2021.
On 26 March, Meir Cohen withdrew his candidacy to avoid competing with Gantz. Later that day, MKs elected Gantz as the new Speaker of the Knesset by a margin of 74–18 with support from Likud, while Yesh Atid, Labor and Yisrael Beitenu MKs boycotted the vote.
Recommendations (March–April 2020)
President Rivlin met with all elected parties and received their recommendations for prime minister on 15 March. Rivlin gave Gantz the mandate to form a government on 16 March.
Initially following the election, Gantz could not form a government because he previously promised not to form a government with Netanyahu, and at the same time could not rely on external support from the Joint List for a minority government due to opposition from several Blue and White MKs. However, with the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, Gantz reversed his stance on Netanyahu and now supported an "emergency coalition" due to an urgent need to address the public health crisis. On 21 March, Netanyahu announced negotiations were completed for a national unity government with a rotating prime ministership where Netanyahu would serve first, and would later be replaced by Gantz, although Gantz denied this and claimed negotiations were still ongoing.
On 26 March, Gantz become Speaker of Knesset with support from Likud, threatening unity in the Blue and White alliance due to some internal opposition towards cooperating with Netanyahu.
On 27 March, it was revealed that a major obstacle to a possible long-term alliance between Gantz and Netanyahu emerged with regard to implementing U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan. Barak Ravid of Israel's Channel 13 news revealed that Gantz, despite previously claiming that he wanted to implement the peace plan, still wanted to hold peace talks with the Palestinians, which Trump and Netanyahu still opposed. Subsequently, after long negotiations, a compromise deal was reached over the peace plan. Ravid stated that this would likely make the upcoming deal between Gantz and Netanyahu short-lived.
By early April, there were proposals of a coalition deal between Netanyahu and Gantz, where Gantz was to replace Netanyahu as Prime Minister of Israel after 18 months in government. Gantz's term as prime minister-designate was going to end on 14 April, though President Rivlin extended it until 15 April.
Coalition government
On 20 April 2020, Gantz and Netanyahu announced that agreement on a unity government had been reached. The deal would involve both parties sharing power, and Gantz and Netanyahu taking turns being prime minister. Under the agreement, Netanyahu would serve as prime minister for 18 months until October 2021, and Gantz would become prime minister for 18 months afterwards. However, should Netanyahu leave the premiership early, Gantz would take over the position. Regarding ministerial roles, Blue and White received an equal number of ministers as parties the national camp. Blue and White received the Justice, Economy, Labor and Welfare, Communications, Agriculture, Culture and Sports, Absorption, Tourism, Minorities, Diaspora, Science and Space, Strategic Affairs, and Social Affairs ministries. The positions of foreign minister, energy minister and environmental protection minister will rotate upon the change of prime minister. The terms of the agreement also provide that Gantz serve as defense minister when the new government is sworn in.