The thirty-sixth government of Israel, or the Bennett–Lapid government, was the cabinet of Israel that was formed on 13 June 2021 after the 2021 Knesset elections. 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 Ra'am. The cabinet was succeeded by the thirty-seventh government of Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, on 29 December 2022.
The government had two prime ministers during its existence. Namely, under a rotation agreement, Naftali Bennett of Yamina initially served as Prime Minister but ultimately ceded the position to Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, after the coalition fell on 30 June 2022. Lapid became Prime Minister on 1 July 2022. Due to the collapse of the government, Lapid served as caretaker Prime Minister until elections were held on 1 November 2022.
Yamina and Yesh Atid became the fourth and fifth parties, respectively, to lead an Israeli government – following Mapai/Labor Party (1948–1977; 1984–1986; 1992–1996; 1999–2001), Herut/Likud (1977–1984; 1986–1992; 1996–1999; 2001–2005; 2009–2021), and Kadima (2005–2009).
The government was the first to include an independent Arab Israeli party as an official member of the governing coalition. It was 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 Ra'am, Said al-Harumi, abstaining. Bennett was thus sworn in as Israel's 13th prime minister, with Lapid serving as alternate prime minister.
Background
President Reuven Rivlin met with all elected parties and received their recommendations for prime minister on 5 April 2021, and gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the mandate on 6 April. This was the first time in Israel's history where there were recommendations for three candidates (Netanyahu, Yair Lapid, and Naftali Bennett), rather than two, after the legislative election. Netanyahu was given a mandate to form a new government by the end of 4 May, but he failed to form a government by the deadline.
The 2021 election once more produced a hung Knesset, with neither the pro-Netanyahu right-wing bloc (Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Religious Zionist Party; with 52 seats) nor the ideologically diverse non-Arab anti-Netanyahu opposition (Yesh Atid, Blue and White, Labor Party, Yisrael Beiteinu, New Hope, and Meretz; with 51 seats) winning enough seats to form a new government outright (61 seats are needed for an absolute majority). This left the conservative Yamina and the two Arab political factions, the Joint List and Ra'am, as the potential kingmakers for a Knesset majority.
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett stated that his first preference was the formation of a right-wing government, while his second choice would be the establishment of a broader "national unity government", to avoid a fifth election in just over two years time. Even with the potential addition of Yamina, the pro-Netanyahu bloc would still have been short of an absolute majority by two seats. Namely, Gideon Sa'ar of the right-wing New Hope party had refused to enter into any coalition in which Netanyahu would remain prime minister, thus hindering the formation of a pure right-wing majority government. In addition, while Netanyahu had been open to limited forms of cooperation with Ra'am to put an end to the deadlock, the Religious Zionist Party ruled out being a part of any right-wing majority which would rely on the UAL's outside support.
Netanyahu's mandate (6 April–4 May 2021)
On 6 April 2021, Benjamin Netanyahu was given the first mandate to establish a coalition by the president Reuven Rivlin. During his efforts to form a government, he offered both his allies and his rivals several proposals for rotation agreements, which would see the prime ministership change hands between parties mid-term. Namely, in a bid to appease Bennett and Sa'ar – either of whom was foreseen to take part in a potential rotation, he offered the post to fellow Likud member and Knesset speaker Yariv Levin. Thereafter, Netanyahu also unsuccessfully tried to include Aryeh Deri of Shas, and then the incumbent Alternate Prime Minister, Benny Gantz of Blue and White, into similar agreements. Netanyahu's mandate to form a government formally expired at midnight on 4 May 2021.
While Netanyahu held the formal mandate to lead talks on a new government, simultaneous discussions were taking place between the parties of the "change bloc". Namely, Lapid stated his willingness to enter into a rotation government with Naftali Bennett, and even offered him the opportunity to hold the post of prime minister for the first half of the Knesset term. These efforts to establish a broad anti-Netanyahu government, which would span the whole political spectrum, were challenged by questions relating to the distribution of ministerial portfolios between the three main blocs (right, centre, and left), as well as to the possibility of including a mutual veto into any coalition agreement among the parties. Another concern was that such an ideologically diverse, seven-party, coalition would still not hold an absolute parliamentary majority – thus requiring outside support to govern effectively. Parties that were mentioned as hypothetical partners in such a cooperation agreement included Ra'am. and United Torah Judaism (especially its Degel HaTorah faction).
Lapid's mandate (5 May–2 June 2021)
On 5 May 2021, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid was officially tasked with the formation of a government by president Rivlin. He had been recommended for the prime ministership by 56 Knesset members from seven factions – including New Hope and almost all of the Joint List. On the same day, one of Yamina's Knesset members, Amichai Chikli, voiced his open opposition to any agreement on a new government which would include Meretz or the Joint List, thus potentially lowering the bloc's plurality from 58 to 57 seats.
On 7 May 2021, several rounds of talks took place between different parties in the bloc, with Yisrael Beiteinu also issuing a formal list of conditions for its entrance into any potential coalition. They included the adoption of laws regarding the following issues: a two-term limit for the prime minister, compulsory voting in elections, compulsory conscription for male ultra-Orthodox Jews, putting more focus on secular studies in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, a penalty of life imprisonment for the rape of a minor, allowing local authorities to decide on the closure of businesses on Saturdays, the introduction of civil law marriage, as well as a new, two-year state budget. The party's chairman, Avigdor Lieberman, also promised to set up two state commissions of inquiry, to investigate the Netanyahu administration's possible culpability in the circumstances which led to a deadly stampede on Mount Meron on 30 April 2021, as well as its overall handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The proposal to allow civil marriages drew strong opposition from Ra'am, which views it as a "violation of family values".
On 8 May 2021, media sources reported that the parties had allegedly agreed on several general mechanisms and basic principles, which were to form the basis of their cooperation. The leaders of the parties still disagreed over the distribution of many ministerial positions within the potential government, specifically the portfolios of justice (demanded by both Yamina, for Ayelet Shaked; and New Hope, for Sa'ar), education (sought by Yamina, New Hope, for Yifat Shasha-Biton; and Meretz, for Nitzan Horowitz) and defense (desired by both Blue and White, for Benny Gantz; and New Hope, for Sa'ar). In addition to the justice and education ministries, Yamina had also asked for the portfolios of public security and of religious affairs, all of which are considered to be "ideological" in nature. Despite these disputes, several points of agreement were reached, including on the matter that Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid would each serve as prime minister for two years. In such an arrangement Lapid would have served as foreign minister under Bennett, while Avigdor Lieberman would have held the position of finance minister. The parties of the potential coalition also discussed a rotation agreement regarding the position of Knesset speaker, which could have been held by Meir Cohen of Yesh Atid and Ze'ev Elkin of New Hope. In exchange for giving its outside support to a "change bloc" and Yamina coalition government, Ra'am supposedly asked for the chairmanship of an important Knesset committee (either internal or economic affairs), as well as for several measures aimed at improving the living conditions of the Israeli Arabs – a five-year economic plan for the community, a plan on how to decrease violent crimes among Arabs, the annulment of a 2019 law banning illegal construction, and solutions to problems facing the Negev Bedouins.
According to media sources, by 10 May 2021 the discussions between the six-party "change bloc", Yamina and Ra'am were progressing toward a successful conclusion. Namely, both the "change bloc" and Yamina had agreed to the UAL's demands – including the legal recognition of three Negev Bedouin communities and a budget to tackle violent crime in the Arab community, thereby gaining its crucial backing – which would have taken the form of a confidence and supply arrangement rather than that of a formal coalition deal. Therefore, if such a UAL-backed minority coalition had indeed been formed, it would have become the first government in Israel to have had the active support of an Israeli Arab political party. In addition to having made progress on an agreement with the UAL, the "change bloc" and Yamina had also reached several other mutual conclusions. These included a policy of avoiding major discussions on matters of religion – unless it was shown that there could be potential broad support for a certain decision in that area; a decision to continue Netanyahu's policies regarding the West Bank – that is, to maintain existing Israeli settlements there, and allow further construction within them, but also to not allow any new settlements or to annex any new areas of the West Bank; and a possibility of setting up a state commission of inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the 30 April stampede at a Jewish pilgrimage site on Mount Meron.
The parties were considering introducing legislation which would have limited the prime minister to two full terms in office (which, without a grandfather clause, could have possibly barred Benjamin Netanyahu from ever returning to the position) and which would have also prohibited anyone who is indicted from receiving the mandate to form a government from the president, as well as from becoming either the prime minister or the leader of the opposition in the Knesset. The New Hope party sought the division of the post of attorney general into two separate offices, thereby creating the position of a general prosecutor as well. With regard to the distribution of cabinet seats, the justice portfolio likely would have gone to New Hope's Sa'ar, while Blue and White's Gantz would probably have continued in the role of defense minister. In addition, Meretz's Horowitz and Tamar Zandberg were tapped for health and environmental protection minister, respectively. Shaked, on the other hand, had been given the choice of serving as either interior, public security, education or transportation minister. The interior ministry is also being sought by Labor's Merav Michaeli, while education is being contested by both Meretz (for Horowitz) and New Hope (for Yifat Shasha-Biton). Blue and White and Yisrael Beiteinu were also said to be making claims for certain key portfolios. Had Meretz or the Labor Party not met their demands regarding cabinet positions, they had supposedly been offered the chairmanships of some Knesset committees as a form of compensation. Local sources thus reported that Lapid had intended to inform president Rivlin of his success in building a government by the end of the second week of May, with the swearing-in of Naftali Bennett as Israel's 13th prime minister then due to take place some time after the Shavuot festival (which fell between 16 and 18 May 2021).
Abandonment of negotiations for a "change government"
On the afternoon of 10 May 2021, the clashes in Jerusalem between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police – which had been ongoing since 6 May, escalated with the firing of over 400 rockets at Israel by both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. This prompted a response by Israel, who initiated airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. Both attacks were lethal and also caused hundreds of injuries. As a result of these incidents, the talks on the formation of a new government were frozen indefinitely, with Ra'am refusing to continue the then-nearly finalized negotiations with the "change bloc" and Yamina until the security situation is resolved. On 12 May, UAL leader Mansour Abbas once more clearly expressed his commitment to the continuation of talks with the parties of the prospective new governing coalition, once the widespread violence is brought under control.