Israel Finally Gets a Unity Government as Bibi Agrees to Step Down in 18 Months

After a year and change along with three elections with the threat of a fourth in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel at long last finally has a unity government as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition Blue and White leader Benny Gantz have come to an agreement.

The unity government is to last three years with Netanyahu remaining as Prime Minister for 18 months with Gantz succeeding him presumably in October 2021. By that time Netanyahu will be nearing his 72nd birthday and have been the country's Prime Minister for 12 1/2 years. It is the longest reign of any Israeli Prime Minister. Bibi also served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999.

The problem here wasn't Israeli democracy. Israelis did their part by voting in successive elections in April 2019, September 2019 and March 2020. The problem was neither Netanyahu or Gantz could cobble together a coalition on their own and were reluctant to form a national unity government, especially Gantz. It appeared Israelis would be heading for a fourth election in August when Gantz was unable to form a coalition government last week. But finally cooler heads have prevailed.

Like everywhere else in the world, Israel is also dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. As of this writing, 13,713 Israelis have been afflicted COVID-19 with 177 lives lost. Under these circumstances, further political uncertainty was simply untenable.

While Israeli politicians, Left or Right, religious or secular, can be reasonably criticized for prolonging this political impasse let us keep this in mind. Mahmoud Abbas has been President of the Palestinian Authority for 15 years. The problem is his four year term expired 11 years ago. Those inclined to single out Israel governance while turning a blind eye to the lack of Palestinian self rule cannot be taken with any degree with seriousness.

Nevertheless, the impasse in Israel went on far too long. Having no government for more than a year does not inspire confidence. Let us hope this new unity government can remedy that state of affairs.