NETANYAHU Facing Formidable Coalition To Oust Him

Benjamin Netanyahu, serving as the Prime Minister of Israel since 2009,  is making a last-ditch effort to stay in power by trying to persuade right-wing lawmakers to join him to prevent the new coalition to oust him .“All right-wing Knesset members must oppose this dangerous left-wing government,” says Israel’s longest-serving PM Netanyahu on social media on  Thursday. He accused right-wing foe Naftali Bennett of selling the Negev to Ra’am, a left-wing Israeli party. Bennett and his party, the Jewish Home, recently joined a 61-seat majority to give a new coalition a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Having served as PM  from 1996 to 1999,  Netanyahu, 71,  is also the chairman of the Likud – National Liberal Movement. ‘’The change coalition is united around anti-Netanyahu sentiment containing multiple factions, including the nationalist Bennett, the centrist Yair Lapid and the Islamist United Arab List. Lapid on Wednesday announced the coalition by saying he had told President Reuven Rivlin that he had formed an agreement with Bennett, the former defence minister — effectively ending Netanyahu’s reign as Israeli prime minister. This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didn’t. It will do everything to unite Israeli society,” he said on Twitter. Arab List leader Mansour Abbas celebrated their inclusion in the new coalition. “This is the first time an Arab party is a partner in the formation of a government,” Abbas reportedly said. “This agreement has a lot of things for the benefit of Arab society, and Israeli society in general.”Netanyahu’s desperate effort comes after the corruption scandal rattled the prime minister led party and allies in a March election came up short of the 61 seats needed to form a governing majority in the Knesset, says the New York Post. Under the deal agreed by the new coalition, nationalist Naftali Bennett, 49, a former defence minister and a high-tech millionaire, would become prime minister and hand over the post to Lapid, 57, a former TV host and finance minister, in about two years. A parliamentary session, in which the government can be approved by a simple majority of legislators, could be some 10 days away. In the last election, Netanyahu’s Likud party and its allies nor their opponents won a majority in the legislature. It was Israel’s fourth national ballot in two years.  NDTV says  ‘’ Members of the prospective government have little in common other than a desire to oust Netanyahu, who is also on trial on corruption charges. He denies any wrongdoing. The roster includes Bennett’s Yamina (Rightward), centre-left Blue and White, headed by Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the left-wing Meretz and Labour parties, former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party and New Hope, a right-wing party headed by former education minister Gideon Saar, who broke away from Likud. Edited by @chakravartypk