Israel’s incoming Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
told the country’s president that he will be able to form a government, bringing him closer to a return to power, though challenges remain.
Mr. Netanyahu on Wednesday told President
Isaac Herzog
that he has enough support from lawmakers to form a governing coalition, a necessary step in Israel’s parliamentary system before he can take over as prime minister. Still, Mr. Netanyahu needs to finish coalition agreements with all his partners, which he has yet to publicly announce, and seal the deal with a confidence vote in parliament.
He will have seven days from the point that parliament is informed he has a government in hand to swear in the government. Due to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, parliament is shutting early and may not convene again until next Monday. That means Mr. Netanyahu could choose to swear in the government next week or as late as a week from next Monday.
“Thanks to the great public support that we received in the last elections, I’m informing you that I can form a government, which will work for all the citizens of Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Herzog, in a video recording of their conversation published by Mr. Netanyahu.
The government he aims to form will be Israel’s most right-wing and religious in the country’s history, say political analysts.
A Palestinian shepherd near Har Homa, an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem that Israel considers a neighborhood of its capital.
Photo:
Mahmoud Illean/Associated Press
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